Creating a Manual Pharmacy First Referral

Pharmacy First Referrals received via NHS Mail should be created in Pharmacy Services as manual referrals. To create a manual referral:

  1. From the Pharmacy First Referrals screen, select CREATE REFERRAL :

  2. The Create Manual Referral screen displays:

    Complete as appropriate:

    • Choose a service - Select the service required:

      • Minor Illness/Clinical Pathways/Clinical Pathways - Complete the following:

        • Does the patient meet the criteria for a Clinical Pathways Consultation? - Select either:

          • Yes - To record that the patient does meet the criteria for a Clinical Pathways consultation, and complete the following questions:

            • Was a referral received for this patient? - Select either:

              • Yes - To record that a referral was received for this patient, and continue to Referral Details.

              • No - To record that a referral was not received for this patient, and complete as appropriate:

                • Was the patient signposted or self referred? - Select either:

                  • Signposted - Selecting Signposted displays the Signposted Details section, complete as appropriate:

                    • Signposted From - Select from the available list. If you select Other, you must state in Please state:

                  • Self Referred - Selecting Self Referred displays the Self Referred Details section, complete as appropriate:

                    • Where would the patient have gone if they didn't come to the pharmacy? - Select from the available list. If you select Other, you must state in Please state:

          • No - To record that the patient does not meet the criteria for a Clinical Pathways consultation, and continue to Referral Details.

      • Urgent Medicines Supply

    • Referral Origin - Select the originator of the referral from the available list:

      • Ambulance Service

      • Emergency Department

      • GP Practice

      • GP Practice (online)

      • NHS 111 Online

      • NHS 111 Service

      • Urgent Treatment Centre

    • Referral Contact Details - Enter the referral contact details.

    • Date Of Referral - Select the referral date from the calendar.

    • Time Of Referral - Enter the time of the referral using the 24 hour clock, for example, 16:00 is 4pm.

    • NHS Case ID - Enter the NHS Case ID from the referral email. Only applicable if received from NHS 111 Online or NHS 111 Service.

    • NHS 111 Disposition Code - Enter the NHS 111 Disposition Code from the referral email. Only applicable if received from NHS 111 Online or NHS 111 Service.

      Training Tip - It is advisable to copy and paste the NHS Case ID and NHS 111 Disposition Code from the email to avoid mistakes. Press CTRL+C on your keyboard to copy and CTRL+V to paste.

    You can either search the Personal Demographics Service (PDS) or enter details manually, select either:

    If you have the patient's Date of Birth and NHS Number, you can populate the patient's details in Pharmacy Services with the details retrieved from the PDS (Personal Demographics Service). To search the PDS:

    1. Enter the patient's Date of Birth and NHS Number.

    2. Select SEARCH PDS to search for the patient on PDS:

      Select the image below to start a short demonstration. Select the image again to stop and minimise the demonstration:

      • If the patient is successfully found on the PDS, the patient's details populate automatically in Pharmacy Services:

        Confirm that the patient details from the PDS are correct.

        Training Tip - Select EDIT if you need to manually amend any of the patient details.

      • If a patient cannot be found using the details provided, a warning displays 'No patient could be found on PDS using the details provided, please enter patient details manually'. Select ENTER DETAILS MANUALLY and follow the instructions below:

    Complete as required:

    • Gender - Select from the available list.

    • First Name

    • Surname

    • Date Of Birth

    • Primary Address

    • Postcode

    • No Fixed Abode - Select if the patient does not have an address.

      Note - The Primary Address and Postcode fields do not display when you select this option.

    • Phone Number

    • Patient GP Details - Select ADD GP PRACTICE to search for a GP practice. The GP Practice Search screen displays:

      Enter the patient's Practice Name, Address and Postcode and select SEARCH . Select the GP Practice required.

      Note - You can search using multiple categories, but you must enter at least three characters in a search category.

    • Clinical Summary (Optional) - Copy and paste the clinical details from original referral or summarise the details provided.

      Training Tip - Press CTRL + C on your keyboard to copy text and press CTRL + V on your keyboard to paste.

  3. Select CREATE REFERRAL to create the manual referral.

The referral displays on the Pharmacy First Referrals screen with the status New.

See Pharmacy First (Formerly CPCS) for more information.
Note - To print this topic select Print in the top right corner and follow the on-screen prompts.