The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 280 No 7499 p506
26 April 2008

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• White Paper
• Patient records
• Electronic prescribing
• Pharmacy contract
• Community pharmacy
• Medicines use reviews
• Minor ailment scheme
• Medication errors
• English Pharmacy Board
• Council election
• Education
• Public relations
• New professional body
• The Society (2)
• Euthanasia (2)

Letters to the Editor

Minor ailment scheme

Healthcare providers refer inappropriately

From Mr J. G. Thompson, MRPharmS

Further to recent letters about the minor ailment scheme I find the major problem is not the patient with the shopping list; it is the inappropriate referrals received from other healthcare providers who see the scheme as a route to budget savings.

I have experienced countless consultations where a patient has gone to the doctor with, say, tennis elbow and has then been referred to the pharmacy for a free supply of, say, ibuprofen gel. This situation creates two consultations and ultimately does not save the health service a penny.

I have also received many a prescription for an antibiotic mixture for a child with the mother stating the doctor said to “ask for a bottle of Calpol at the chemist”. Again there is no saving in consultation time.

I think that, as well as educating the patient to the fact that MAS is not a shopping list, we must also educate other healthcare providers to the fact that the major benefit to them is a saving in consultation time and not a saving in their medicinal budgets.

John Thompson
Inverkeithing, Fife

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