Pharmacy First Toolkit
Purpose of the toolkit
This toolkit is aimed at those who are involved with the implementation of the Pharmacy First service within the Shropshire Telford and Wrekin ICS. It is expected to be especially useful for general practice and community pharmacy teams, but it may also be of benefit to staff working in other sectors such as UEC. The contents of the toolkit are not intended to be used as patient/public facing information.
Within this toolkit you will find a variety of resources that can be used to support the implementation of the Pharmacy First service. It includes background information for the service, reference materials, supportive resources and referral aides.
The resources contained within this toolkit can be used to support the implementation of the service, growing of the service, and resolving issues that you may experience. If you need any further information or support, please reach out to one of the contacts listed at the end of this toolkit.
Overview of the service
The Pharmacy First service was announced as part of the Primary Care Access and Recovery Plan in May 2023. Following a period of negotiation and service design, the service was formally launched on 31st January 2024.
Pharmacy First is a new NHS Advanced Service for Community Pharmacies. The service will include 7 new clinical pathways and builds upon the previous Community Pharmacy Consultation Service (CPCS). The full service is made up of the following three elements:
- Pharmacy First (clinical pathways)
- Allows pharmacy teams to assess and treat seven common conditions that traditionally would need to be treated in general practice.
- See below for details of 7 common conditions
- Pharmacy First (urgent repeat medicines supply)
- This allows UEC and 111 settings to refer patients to community pharmacy for a supply of an urgent repeat medicine.
- General practices are not able to refer into this element of Pharmacy First
- Pharmacy First (NHS referrals for minor illness)
- This allows patients to be referred from general practice, UEC or 111 settings to a community pharmacy for a consultation with a community pharmacist. The pharmacist will assess the patient, offer advice, recommend treatments, or refer to another setting or service if needed.
The seven common conditions which can be treated as part of the clinical pathways arm are:
