NHS – The NMS – A new way to obtain new medications?

by admin on 06/19/2011 1:15 PM

Q&A about the New Medicine Service (NMS)

If you are prescribed a medicine to treat a long-term condition for the first time, you may be able to get extra help and advice about your medicine from your local pharmacist through a free scheme called the New Medicine Service (NMS).

People often have problems when they start a new medicine. As part of the scheme, the pharmacist will support you over several weeks to use the medicine safely and to best effect.

The service is only available to people using certain medicines. In some cases where there is a problem and a solution cannot be found between you and the pharmacist, you will be referred back to your doctor.

How will I know if I’m eligible?

The service is only available for people living in England, and only for those who have been prescribed a new medicine for the conditions listed:

• asthma
• chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
• type 2 diabetes
• high blood pressure
• people who have been given a new blood-thinning medicine

How do I join the scheme?

When you take your new prescription to your local pharmacy, ask the pharmacist if you can take part in the service.

How does the new service work?

Start your medicine

You can talk to the pharmacist when you first start taking your medicine and ask any questions you may have about it. For example, you might want to know about side effects or how you can fit your treatment around your lifestyle.

Your second appointment

You will have a follow-up appointment two weeks later, when you and your pharmacist can talk about any issues you might have experienced with the medicine. For example, if you are not taking it regularly or are finding a tablet hard to swallow, your pharmacist can help you get back on track and find work with you to find solutions to any issues.

Your third appointment

You will have your last appointment a fortnight later, when you can catch up with your pharmacist again to see how you are getting on. The service then ends, but your pharmacist will always talk to you about your medicines when you need help.

If you are not approved to take it beyond three fortnights, you can always try Chinese witchcraft. But be sure to wipe off those long thin needles with alcohol.

NB: How does it feel to have a pharmacist evaluate you rather than the doctor who prescribed it?

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British medicine does not give timely access to healthcare, it only gives access to a hazardous waiting list. Now they have Apothecaries interpositioned. But does that make it less hazardous?