Managing demand: transfer of management of self limiting conditions from general practice to community pharmacies

摘要

The management of patients who visit general practitioners for acute, self limiting, health problems is a widespread concern for the workload of general practitioners. Although nurses and pharmacists receive government support for providing treatment for self limiting conditions, patients exempt from prescription charges are not necessarily motivated, or do not have the resources, to obtain care from other sources. This increases the workload for general practitioners in areas with high percentages of exempt patients. We examined how referring patients with self limiting conditions directly to a community pharmacist would affect general practitioners' workload.