Ms Gisela Stuart (Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health) visited the Essex NHS Direct pilot site on October 25. This site will be undertaking a trial formally linking access to community pharmacies through NHS Direct from March next year.
Ms Stuart, who was appointed to the health team in the Government reshuffle last month, welcomed the pharmacy trial, saying: "The pharmacy project will further increase the range of services which NHS Direct will provide to local people. I am delighted that NHS Direct is working in partnership with other professionals to deliver the best possible service to callers and provide an integrated response to peoples' needs for information and advice."
The pharmacy pilot is being run in conjunction with the National Pharmaceutical Association and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society. It will allow NHS Direct nurses to refer callers to community pharmacies where they will be able to receive advice on medicines for self-care.
The Essex site is also carrying out a trial allowing access to the out-of-hours team for Essex social services which will be based at the NHS Direct office. This trial started on October 25.
The Essex NHS Direct site has handled over 40,000 calls since it opened in February this year.