Supporting Resources for Surgeries

Resources for Pharmacies

The Extended Care concept started small with just two Tier 1 services and it has been growing as outcomes evidence is demonstrating that Extended Care Pharmacists (ECPs) are very capable of caring for patients suffering from the specified conditions.

Supporting Resources for Surgeries

1) Tier 1 Referral Guidance – This Guide quite simply and helpfully clarifies the symptoms of uncomplicated urinary tract infection which can be referred to an Extended Care Pharmacist (ECP) whilst distinguishing them from more complicated situations where a patient should see a GP.

It contains a green list of uncomplicated UTI symptoms and a red list of more complicated UTI symptoms, which reception teams find helpful.

2) Surgery to Pharmacy – Referral Process – all patient referrals to the pharmacy should be made electronically, by secure NHSmail, to include telephone contact details for the patient. Patients should anticipate a same-day consultation with the pharmacist, but they should not be led to expect an immediate consultation.

3) Locating an ECP? – pharmacists have been asked to advise their local surgeries when they have completed their studies and accreditations to become an Extended Care Pharmacist. There isn’t a simple electronic method for surgeries to identify them just yet, so it is recommended Reception Managers simply phone their nearest half dozen pharmacies, perhaps quarterly, to touch base and to check if there have been any ECP staff changes.

4) Referrals Back Procedure – occasionally the pharmacist will identify a ‘red-flag’ symptom and will need to refer a patient back to the surgery, maybe for a routine GP appointment or perhaps for a more urgent one. Reception managers should ideally contact a pharmacy before making such referrals as a courtesy and to have a conversation about referral back processes.

5) Timing of Referrals – some pharmacies will have a late afternoon cut-off time for Extended Care and CPCS referrals to accommodate possible referrals back before surgery closes. Ideally please phone the pharmacy before sending a belated referral and most pharmacies will try to accommodate if they can.