Essential services

Question 1

What are the essential services in England? (7)

Answer 1

1. Dispensing
2. Disposal of unwanted medicines
3. Public health (promotion of healthy lifestyles)
4. Signposting - Providing information to people who need further support, advice or treatment that the pharmacy cannot provide
5. Support for self-care
6. Clinical governance - A system through which healthcare providers are accountable for continuously improving the quality of their services
7. Discharge Medicines service - A three-stage service for reviewing medicines of patients who have been recently discharged from hospital

Question 2

What are the advanced services in England (9)

Answer 2

1. Smoking cessation service
2. New medicine service
3. Appliance use review
4. Stoma Appliance customisation service
5. Flu vaccination service
6. Hepatitis C testing service
7. Hypertension case finding service
8. Pharmacy contraception service
9. Community pharmacist consultation service

Question 3

What are the local enhanced services (11)

Answer 3

1. services that can be commissioned by a number of different commissioners including local authorities Integrated Care Boards (ICB) and local NHS England teams.
2. Palliative care
3. Minor ailments service
4. Smocking cessation
5. Emergency hormonal contraception and sexual health
6. Needle and syringe exchange schemes
7. Supervised consumption
8. Anticoagulant monitoring
9. Care home support
10. Weight management service
11. Ear, nose, throat assessment service

Question 4

What are the pharmacy quality schemes (6)

Answer 4

1. In addition to the various Essential, Advanced and Enhanced Services, most pharmacies take part in the Pharmacy Quality Scheme (PQS)
2. which enables them to claim additional payments for meeting specific healthcare quality criteria, relating to three broad domains
3. Clinical effectiveness
4. Patient safety
5. Patient experience
6. Refer to the Drug Tariff Part VIIA for further information.