Dear Members,

We hope you are having a great start to the New Year.

We will continue with the OTC Masterclass series from February (please see dates below); however, for the month of January, we will be briefing pharmacy teams on the Pharmacy First Service on 26th January @12pm. 

PHARMACY FIRST OTC MASTERCLASS- 26^TH JAN 2024 12 PM

We will cover the following for staff training:

• What it involves and the conditions for consideration and look at where the counter team fits in. (Sinusitis, infected bites, acute sore throat, uncomplicated UTI, shingles, acute sinusitis, acute otitis media)
• We will also summarise the symptoms which would warrant referral to the pharmacist for a more in-depth consultation. 
• We will also discuss the language that would be beneficial for the consultation between the patient and counter staff.

We have looked at some of the conditions which are part of the Pharmacy First scheme in 2023 in the OTC masterclass series, so if you would like a recap, we suggest you revisit those. We will provide you access to the video recording next week. The video recording sessions to view which covered conditions involved in the Pharmacy First scheme are as follows: 

• Hayfever
• Bites and Stings
• Child health

OTC Masterclass sessions during 2024 (at 12 pm on Fridays) will be on the following dates (topics to be announced).

• 16^th Feb 
• 15^th Mar
• 19^th April
• 17^th May
• 21^st June

Here is what our members said about our sessions:

"All my staff enjoyed the session. Well presented and comprehensive,  covering all areas needed, their verdict. Thank you for this Pharmaplus. A good recap for experienced staff as well." - PPL Member.

"My team enjoyed it too - thanks; plus they got to sit down for an hour on a Friday too!" - PPL Member.

Thank you once again to those who have joined so far, and we hope to see many more at the next session.

Regards,

PharmaPlus