NHS England (NHSE) Pharmacy First

NHS England Pharmacy First

Pharmacy First

The NHS England (NHSE) Pharmacy First service enables patients to be referred into community pharmacy for a minor illness or an urgent repeat medicine supply.

The Pharmacy First service launched on 31 January 2024. This adds to the existing consultation service and enables community pharmacies to complete episodes of care for 7 common conditions following defined clinical pathways, one of these being Acute Otitis Media. This service is only applicable to children between 1 to 17 years of age.

Pharmacists are required to follow a robust clinical pathway for Acute Otitis Media (AOM), which includes self-care and safety-netting advice and, only if appropriate, supplying a restricted set of prescription only medicines, without the need to visit a GP.

Please see the link below for more information on the Pharmacy First Service:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/primary-care/pharmacy/pharmacy-services/pharmacy-first

Please see the link below for the Acute Otitis Media Pharmacy First Pathway:

https://clinicalpathways.uk/pharmacy/acute-otitis-media/

Please see the links below for the British Society of Audiology Recommended Guidelines for Ear Examination:

https://www.thebsa.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/OD104-54-BSA-Recommended-Procedure-Ear-Examiniation-February-2022.pdf

The founder of The Art of Hearing, Ms Aarti Makan was employed by NHSE London (Workforce Training and Education), as the London Dean for Healthcare Science, and partnered with the Fateha Al-Emran in the NHSE London (Workforce Training and Education) Pharmacy team to develop a fact sheet to support Pharmacists with Acute Otitis Media consultations, understand the onward referral criteria and support with differential diagnosis.

Click the link below to view the Acute Otitis Media Fact Sheet (developed in collaboration with Fateha, Aarti and two Audiology colleagues who worked as part of Aarti's NHSE London WT&E Healthcare Science team (Ruth Vickerstaff and Nasreen Hussain)

The Acute Otitis Media Fact Sheet can be viewed/downloaded here:

Acute Otitis Media Fact Sheet

About Ms Aarti Makan

Ms Aarti Makan, the founder and Director of The Art of Hearing, is a highly qualified professional, with vast experience in the field of audiology. She has a dual qualification in both Audiology and Speech-Language Therapy.

She is a clinician with a portfolio career in education and training, clinical work, quality assessment and service delivery accreditation. This can be viewed as a competitive advantage relative to hearing aid dispensers in retail stores.

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