Self-Care

Community Pharmacy Consultation Service

Patient who walk-in, or are referred into a local Pharmacy service will undergo a confidential consultation with a Community Pharmacist to assess:

• Their need for an urgent repeat medication (for patients that may have run out of repeat medication)
• To assess minor illness symptoms and provide advice to support next steps including the availability of Over the Counter Medications to ease and improve symptoms.

The list of minor ailments that Pharmacists can consult on are

Shared Care Decision Making (SDM)

People want to be more involved in decisions about their health and care. SDM ensures that people are supported to be as involved in the decision making process as they would
wish.

SDM means people are supported to:

• Understand the care, treatment and support options available and the risks,
  benefits and consequences of those options
• Make a decision about a preferred course of action, based on evidence based, good quality information and their personal preferences.

It is, therefore, a process in which clinicians and individuals work together to select tests, treatments, management or support packages, based on evidence and the
individual’s informed preferences.

SDM is relevant in any non-life threatening situation when a health or care decision needs to be made and a range of options (including doing nothing) is available.

SDM ensures that individuals are supported to make decisions based on their personal preferences and are, therefore, more likely to adhere to evidence based treatment regimes,
more likely to have improved outcomes and less likely to regret the decisions that are made.

By paying attention to individuals’ informed preferences we can support people to achieve outcomes that matter to them. Aggregating the decisions of informed individuals to a population level means we can commission and provide services that informed people want and therefore allocate resources more efficiently.

Patient Decision Aids (PDAs) help people decide on healthcare options. They provide evidence-based information on the options available, along with likely outcomes, benefits, harms and uncertainties. Patients can access a range of PDAs from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence to inform conversations between a themselves and their healthcare professional, supporting them to make informed choices in line with their personal values and preferences.