Background
The minor ailments service ‘Care at the Chemist’ was initially commissioned by a former Primary Care Organisation for St Helens residents in 2004. The service is available to the public in all but two patient facing pharmacies in St Helens. Patients can obtain treatment for 27 minor ailments free of charge if they are eligible for free prescriptions. Prior to this service being set up, some patients (exempt from prescription charges) booked appointments and consulted GPs for minor ailments so that they were able to obtain treatments free of charge on prescription. The service was set up to divert patients away from the consulting their GP in order to obtain free medicines on prescription.
The Current Position
The current spend on Care at the Chemist is in the region of £200-250k per annum.
13/14 |
£227,234 |
14/15 |
£207,996 |
15/16 |
£290,627 |
16/17 |
£201,226 |
17/18 |
£238,718 |
18/19 |
£206.704 |
Pharmacies in St Helens are not paid to provide this service. The CCG pays the cost of the medicines and pharmacies receive a small administration fee.
The pharmacies accessed most frequently for this service are around Parr, Thatto Heath, Four Acre and a pharmacy in the Town Centre and Haydock, areas of known deprivation.
The CCG also has a Self-Care Policy that was first published approx. 3 years ago after a 12 week public consultation. The Policy has recently been updated in line with National Guidance.
Self-care Policy https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/conditions-for-which-over-the-counter- itemsshould-not-routinely-be-prescribed-in-primary-care-guidance-for-ccgs/
Rationale for Change
NHS St Helens Self-Care Policy has been aligned to national guidance and sets out St Helens Clinical Commissioning Group’s approach to ensure that prescribing of certain products in the following circumstances is stopped and to support prescribers in implementing this decision:
St Helens CCG spends over £2 million per year on prescribing medicines and products that are available to buy over the counter without a prescription from community pharmacies and retail outlets such as supermarkets. It is recognised that some of this cost is attributable to long-term or complex conditions. However, removing specific medications from routine prescription for minor, short-term conditions and for conditions, such as a common cold, sore throat or minor cough, which would naturally get better themselves in the majority of patients if untreated, would release money to treat more serious conditions such as heart disease and diabetes and would help maintain financial balance in the health economy.
The CCG current spend on Care at the Chemist is approximately between £200k and £250k. In not providing this service this money would be saved given the financial challenge that the CCG faces.
Over the last 12 months the CCG has carried out work promoting self-care and will continue to raise awareness of self-care and where patients can access treatment for minor ailments. This will be done as a dedicated campaign and will link into other engagement activities across the borough, linking in with parent groups, seldom heard groups and other local community / third sector and voluntary groups. This campaign will also be shared across social media and allow partners and providers share messages to maximise reach.
Timeline
Consultation will start 1 July 2019 and run for 12 weeks and will end 21 September 2019
Options
General Mitigations
Patients are still able to obtain treatments on prescription as per the information in the NHS England consultation information.
NHS England will initially consider that the cases below are examples of exceptions which may apply to the proposed restrictions:
Consultation and Questionnaire
The consultation questionnaire is available to complete online here or you can download a hard copy and complete then return to the address on the form.
How to get involved and have your say
We will be working with the community, third sector and voluntary groups to ensure everyone across the borough has the opportunity to have their say.
There are a number of ways people can give their views
To view the consultation plan click here.
FAQs
Question/comment: The pharmacies make £10 for each one prescription do when the items cost significantly less to buy.
Response: Pharmacies in St Helens are not paid £10. The CCG pays the cost of the medicines and pharmacies receive a small administration fee.