General medical practitioners may soon be referring patients to community pharmacies for over-the-counter medication using forms printed from a new facility on the electronic version of MIMS.
An OTC section of eMIMS has been produced with the assistance of the Proprietary Association of Great Britain and will become available from March 1.
It is intended for use when GPs feel that a patient would benefit from an OTC medicine. In such a case, the database can be searched and a referral form printed out to give to the patient to take to a community pharmacy.
Mr Peter Mas-Mollinedo (editor, eMIMS) told The Journal on February 7 that research undertaken by the PAGB had shown that over 40 per cent of patients consulting their GP would benefit from self-medication and that if such patients were referred to a pharmacy to buy an OTC medicine, they were more likely to do so again in the future.
A similar scheme piloted by Boots the Chemists in Leicester last year included referral forms for conditions such as hay fever, pain relief and indigestion (PJ,August 14, 1999, p226). However, this pilot scheme had no connection with the new eMIMS referral facility.