Pharmacy First myth busting series (#9)
This is the ninth of a series of articles to tackle some of the misconceptions around Pharmacy First. The articles will cover a variety of aspects of Pharmacy First and aims to myth bust, to increase understanding of the service.
If I receive a message that my Pharmacy First IT system cannot send an automated message to the patient’s GP practice following the patient’s Pharmacy First consultation, no further action is required.
Wrong! It is a service requirement that a notification of the provision of the service is sent to the patient’s general practice on the day of provision or on the following working day.
If the notification cannot be sent via the Pharmacy First IT system, the notification should be sent via NHSmail or hard copy.
Recording the referring organisation’s ODS code, for example, the GP practice’s ODS code on the Pharmacy First IT system is not really that important and it is fine to skip or use the ‘default’ dummy code.
Wrong! Accurate completion of this field is important for reporting and service implementation. This information also helps demonstrate the contribution of community pharmacies towards patient care through Pharmacy First and the additional benefits being created for patients and the NHS.
Most systems include an ODS look-up functionality to support with this and some IT suppliers can also pull the information from the Personal Demographics Service (PDS) look-up functionality.
This information is usually included in the referral information. Pharmacists are also able to search for ODS codes using the organisation search functionality in the ODS portal.
Amending or deleting a consultation after marking it as complete will delete the message that has been sent to the patient’s GP practice.
Wrong! Deleting a consultation after marking it as complete will not delete the post event message (notification) that has been sent to the patient’s GP practice. In this situation, it is important that the GP practice is contacted and informed of this and a request is made that the patient’s record be updated.
If an amendment is made to a consultation after the notification has been sent to the patient’s GP practice, you should confirm with your Pharmacy First IT supplier what action is required to ensure the patient’s GP clinical record is updated.
I can deliver all the seven clinical pathway consultations by live video link.
Wrong! The acute otitis media clinical pathway cannot be provided by live video link as it requires otoscopic examination of the patient’s ear. Therefore this clinical pathway must be provided as a face-to-face consultation (which means Distance Selling Pharmacies cannot provide this clinical pathway).
View additional myths on our Pharmacy First myth busting page