Unscheduled Care

The National Patient Group Direction for the Urgent Supply of Repeat Medicines and Appliances allows pharmacists to supply a patient with their repeat medication where obtaining a prescription is impractical.

Patient Group Directions (PGD) are written instructions for the supply or administration of medicines to groups of patients who may not be individually identified before presenting for treatment. The PGD allows the pharmacist to use their clinical judgement and, in most cases, supply a quantity matching the patient's normal prescription, up to one prescribing cycle.

Community pharmacy supports both NHS 24 and local Out of Hours providers by referring patients directly where a pharmacist judges that the patient needs to be seen.

Instances of this can include tracking skin infections and other symptoms or conditions which cannot wait until in-hours services resume.

Pharmacists wishing to refer patients to an OOH centre or other health service should complete the Direct Referral Form Template and use the "Guide to direct referral" table as a guide to the most appropriate support for your patient.

Direct Referral and prof to prof contact numbers are distributed by individual Health Boards.

Contractors are responsible for ensuring all their Pharmacists who are using the National Patient Group Direction for the Urgent Supply of Repeat Medicines and Appliances have completed the PGD Authorisation Form from the pack at each update and send it to the Primary Care Pharmacy Department of the Health Board they are working.

Unscheduled Care prescriptions can be written in two ways:

• Universal Claim Forms (UCF) This is an electronic process and is the main format which should be used. The claim is electronic and there is no requirement to send a paper copy to NSS. A copy of the script needs to be sent to the GP to inform the details of the supply for the patient's record.
• Paper Unscheduled Care Forms These are handwritten and should only be used where the electronic UCF is not available. Copies of the handwritten form need to be sent to NSS for payment.

Authority for Use

This PGD has been developed under the control of NHS Scotland, by medical and pharmaceutical clinicians and authorised for use by each individual NHS board. Pharmacists may only use the PGD if it has been authorised by the NHS board in their area. The pharmacist using the PGD must read, agree and sign the PGD and can begin operating under the PGD immediately after signing, i.e. you do not need to wait on the board confirming authorisation before you can start using the PGD, provided you have signed it.

Lists of GPs in post and their practice contact details.

Pharmacies are required to provide a record of any urgent supply of medication they dispense on behalf of a GP during out-of-hours. Additionally, they need both the prescriber and practice code to submit the transaction.