Boots refers two-thirds of PGD clients to their GPs
GP referral rates are high for customers attending patient group direction (PGD) programmes for erectile dysfunction and weight management run by Boots The Chemists.
An audit has shown that more than four in five customers, presenting
for the erectile dysfunction service, and two in three, attending the
weight loss programme, were referred to their GPs for further investigation.
Customers who were found to have raised blood pressure or blood glucose
were excluded from PGD supply of orlistat for weight loss and sildenafil
for erectile dysfunction (raised cholesterol was another exclusion criteria
here). Some 257 customers attended the erectile dysfunction clinic in
Manchester and 391 attended the weight loss programme.
Although the erectile dysfunction service is still being piloted, Boots
has rolled out the weight loss service nationally (262 stores with 485
pharmacists). The company’s other national PGD programmes are for
hair retention using finasteride (142 stores with 215 pharmacists) and
chlamydia screening and treatment using azithromycin (344 stores with
803 pharmacists).
Services are run on an appointment basis. All consultations are confidential,
but patients are recommended to see their GP if they do not fall within
the inclusion criteria for that particular PGD.
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