Brent
Primary Care Trust
Working with our partners for a healthier Brent
Pharmacy Procedures for handling the Minor Ailment
Pharmacist Advice Request
Note: Only medicines listed on the Minor Ailments Formulary can be
supplied using this form.

Patients should only be accepted into the service if the Pharmacist has
received communication or notification from a participating surgery. If the
patient has not signed the GP referral form please get patient to sign.

There should only be one ailment per Minor Ailment Treatment (MAT
Form).

All participating Pharmacists will provide a professional consultation
service for patients referred from the participating GPs.

Pharmacists will be paid for all consultations regardless of whether this
results in a supply of medication or not.

The Pharmacist will assess the patient’s condition. The consultation will
consist of:




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Patient assessment by Pharmacist.
Provision of advice.
Provision of a medication, only if necessary*, from the agreed
formulary appropriate to the patient’s condition.
The Pharmacist will complete the Pharmacist Minor Ailment form.
The Pharmacist will send the top copy of this with the declaration
form to Claire Cheshire, Primary Care Co-ordinator at Wembley
Centre for Health & Care for payment, send the second copy to the
patient’s GP and retain the third for your records.
*NB In the event of the consultation, under this pilot project, not leading to the
supply of a product, the Pharmacist should indicate this on the Pharmacist
Minor Ailment form and the patient should sign declaration 2 on the back of
the form.

Normal rules of patient confidentiality apply.

The Pharmacist should ensure that the patient has completed and signed
the declaration of exemption of Prescription charges.
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
If, in the opinion of the pharmacist, the patient presents with symptoms
outside the scope of this development project, they should be referred
back to their GP using the Form For Referral Back To GP.

If a patient presents more than twice within 28 days with the same
symptoms, the patient should be referred to their surgery. A Rapid
Referral Form should be completed and given to the patient to take back
to the surgery.

If during the consultation it appears that presenting symptoms indicate the
need for an immediate consultation with the GP, they are outside the
scope of this pilot project. These patients should be referred back to their
GP (within surgery hours) or be advised to contact NHSDirect, who may
give further advice, or, if necessary, redirect the patient to the on-call
doctor service, or to attend A & E immediately (as appropriate, outside
surgery hours).
If the pharmacist suspects that the patient and/or parent is abusing the
Scheme they should alert Claire Cheshire, Primary Care Co-ordinator at Brent
PCT.
1. Role of the Pharmacist

Guidance from the RPSGB indicates that the forms should be handled the
same as sales of [P] medicines, therefore you should ensure that you
carry out all of your professional responsibilities. The pharmacist should
see all clients presenting with minor ailments.
Completion of Pharmacist Minor Ailment treatment Form

During the consultation with the client complete the patient details and
presenting symptoms section. After an agreement has been reached
about the treatment for the client tick the appropriate box.

If a medicine is to be supplied via the form complete the next section
detailing its name and quantity (refer to the Formulary if in doubt as these
are the only medicines that will be reimbursed).

Please complete the remainder of the form by adding your name,
signature, pharmacy stamp and date of supply.

A copy of the form must be sent to the referring GP within 2 working days.
Declaration of exemption or payment

Ask the client to sign the declaration on the back of the Treatment form.
Reimbursement to the pharmacist will be dependent on the
submission of a fully completed form and declaration.
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
The exemption check should be completed as it is for all other NHS
prescription forms. Mark one of the boxes on the bottom right hand side of
the Treatment form to declare whether evidence of exemption has been
seen.

If the client has to pay a prescription charge take this money or sell the
medicine to the patient if it is cheaper. The treatment form will need to
be returned to the Brent PCT for auditing purposes even if the patient
purchases an item over the counter.

If a prescription charge is paid this will be adjusted from the payment due
to the pharmacist from the PCT.

Ask the patient to complete either declaration 1 or 2 on the form.
Payment to Pharmacists

Return the Treatment forms with the Declaration forms to Claire Cheshire,
Primary Care Co-ordinator at Brent PCT, Wembley Centre for Health &
Care by the 5th day of the month following the month in which the supply
was made, in order to receive your payments promptly.

To request a further supply of the referral to surgery forms please contact
Claire Cheshire (details as above).
2. Role of the PCT co-ordinator in processing completed forms.

Check that the form has been completed satisfactorily.

Agree the appropriate reimbursements to the pharmacist in each case and
make arrangements for payment.

Reimbursement will be the cost of an item from the current Drug Tariff
price or the Chemist and Druggist wholesale price for branded items on
the agreed list plus VAT.
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