A PHARMACIST has revealed how a pioneering treatment scheme is lightening the load on hard-pressed GPs.

Patients across East Lancashire who have minor ailments are being encouraged to visit the chemist for free advice, leaving doctors with more time for those with more serious conditions.

The scheme improves access for patients and uses pharmacists' skills to the full, and has been hailed as a great success by East Lancashire Primary Care Trust.

It has been responsible for piloting and promoting it across Burnley, Hyndburn, Pendle and Rossendale.

Pharmacists are now holding more than 2,700 consultations every month, and are forecast to hold more than 32,000 every year.

Patients sign up to the Minor Ailments Scheme get six free sessions with their pharmacist - and those who do not pay for prescriptions get their medicines free.

All details of the illness and the medication recommended are passed to the doctor, and the pharmacist will also refer patients to their GP if they are believed to have a more serious condition.

Linda Bracewell, pharmacist at the Baxenden Pharmacy, Manchester Road, Accrington, is a leading member of the scheme and said it had made a huge difference for patients.

She said: "Often you get a mum with a poorly child who needs a paracetamol solution like Calpol, but they need to go to the surgery purely to get an NHS prescription even though they don't really need to see a doctor.

"This system means they can access the medicine free of charge, along with the appropriate medical support, without having to bother their GP.

"Patients think it's wonderful because they are already very familiar with using the pharmacy and know we have the expertise to work with them and know what other medications they are taking for other conditions.

"This is absolutely what we should be doing - it can be quite frustrating for other healthcare professionals when everything the patient actually needs is at the pharmacy but they still end up in the doctor's surgery.

"It's a marvellous system."

The Minor Ailments Scheme includes 39 pharmacists and 35 GPs signed up in Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale and 13 community pharmacists and ten GP practices participating in Hyndburn, where the scheme is looking to expand.

Pilot schemes were run initially just over a year ago to see what effect they would have, and after their success, the scheme was rolled out across participating chemists throughout East Lancashire as a whole.

To be in the scheme all a patient has to do is obtain a Minor Ailment Scheme passport' from a participating GP practice to use at a participating pharmacy.