Pharmacists and pharmacy technicians are becoming more involved in the care of patients in General Practice. Having the pharmacy team working in our surgery provides valuable medicines support, a close link with our community pharmacy teams and allows our GPs to focus their skills and time where they are most needed for patients who have more complex needs. Pharmacists are experts in medicines and can talk to you about how to get the best from your medicines.
What does the pharmacy team do?
• Provide expertise on day-to-day medicines
• Give advice for patients taking multiple medications
• Carry out medication reviews and other medicines-related support, including discussing side effects
• Give help for patients with their medicines following a stay in hospital, particularly if there has been a change in regimen
• Answer medications and prescription-related questions
• Produce prescriptions
• Support managing patients’ long-term conditions, such as asthma, COPD and diabetes via specialist clinics
Who are our pharmacy team?
Barry Chapman
(MPharm, MRPharmS, Certificate in Independent Prescribing)
Advanced Clinical Pharmacist
Catriona Templeton
(MPharm, Certificate in Independent Prescribing)
Specialist Clinical Pharmacist
Michelle Punton
Pharmacy Technician
Medicines Review
You may have heard people referring to Polypharmacy. It means lots of medicines. A medicine review is particularly useful for people who take a lot of medicines; for these people their medicines review may be called a Polypharmacy Review. Further information is on the NHS Scotland’s website Polypharmacy: Manage medicines or the Managing Multiple Medicines app (available at: Polypharmacy: Manage Medicines (scot.nhs.uk)). Information on how you and your doctor (or other healthcare professional) can work together to decide whether you need a medicine and, if so, which to prescribe, can be found in the Healthcare Improvement Scotland publication Medicines in Scotland: What’s the right treatment for me? – Information for patients and the public (healthcareimprovementscotland.org)This booklet also explains the likely benefits and possible risks of medicines.
Tired of ordering your prescriptions? Then ask for information on Serial Prescribing – a new way to request repeat medicines
In Scotland, services at GP practices and community pharmacies are changing to better support people who take medicines for long-term conditions. The Medicines Care and Review service is available to anyone who is registered with a GP in Scotland.
This service allows the GP to issue a serial prescription, which can be valid for up to a year, to be dispensed at your local Community Pharmacy. The Community Pharmacist will dispense your prescriptions at the interval agreed with your GP for up to a full year meaning you do not have to order your repeat prescriptions from the GP. This service is not only more convenient for patients but allows GPs and the community pharmacy to better manage their prescription workload. You can talk to your community pharmacist about any worries or concerns that you may have about the medicines you are taking. For more information on this service can be found here: The NHS Medicines: Care and Review service at your local pharmacy – gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .
Pharmacy First
You can go to your community pharmacy for advice and medicines for minor illnesses from the Pharmacy First service.
Your community pharmacist can advise you about conditions such as:
- Acne
- Allergies
- Athlete’s foot
- Backache
- Blocked or runny nose
- Cold sores
- Constipation
- Cough
- Cystitis (in women)
- Diarrhoea
- Earache
- Eczema
- Headache
- Headlice
- Haemorrhoids (piles)
- Hay fever
- Impetigo
- Indigestion
- Mouth ulcers
- Pain
- Period pain
- Shingles
- Some skin conditions such as cellulitis or insect bites
- Sore throat
- Threadworms
- Thrush
- Urinary tract infections (UTI’s)
- Verrucas
- Warts
More information is available at NHS Pharmacy First Scotland. Information about getting the right treatment for common viral illnesses such as colds and coughs without encouraging antibiotic resistance can be found in the NHS publication Get well soon without antibiotics (multiscreensite.com).
