DMIRS Service (Digital Minor Illness Referral Service)

Currently, less than 1% of all NHS111 referrals result in a direction to a community pharmacy. Calls are normally referred to other primary care locations such as GP (in hours and out of hours), walk-in centres and sometimes A&E. These appointments block access to GP appointments for patients with greater clinical need. This service aims to reduce the burden on urgent and emergency care services for patients requiring low acuity advice and treatment.

NHS England London Region announced in August a new pilot scheme in London, called the Digital Minor Illness Referral Service (DMIRS), which seeks to refer patients who call NHS 111 with a minor illness directly to community pharmacies, as appropriate, to manage their care.

The pilot has been successfully running in the North East of England, with three new pilot sites identified in May 2018: East Midlands, Devon and London. The early analysis from the pilot in North East England has shown that the referrals are appropriate and effective and that patient satisfaction scores are high, with an option for the pharmacist to escalate patients to their own GP if they need to do so.

Register NOW for providing DMIRS

There are a series of launch events for Community Pharmacists across London to outline the service, patient pathway, demonstration of the IT platform and how to register to deliver the service.  The service will ‘go live’ in a phased approach across London, these dates will be communicated at the event.

The portal for registering to provide the London DMIRS is now open on the NHSBSA website: https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/pharmacies-gp-practices-and-appliance-contractors/dispensing-contractors-information/digital-0.

Click on the link and scroll down to the London section to register your details; there will also be an opportunity to register for DMIRS at the events. Remember to bring with you, your ODS code and premises specific NHS.net mail address.

DMIRS “Go Live”

DMIRS will go live in London during the week commencing 19 November. NHSE(London) will  communicate “go live” dates directly to contractors. Of course the LPC will notify you via email  any updates from NHSE(London). Please ensure you check your shared and individual NHS mail boxes for these communications from NHSE(London) We suggest reviewing the template SOP in preparation in advance of the go live date.

VERY IMPORTANT: Please be aware you will receive an e-mail from Sonar to “activate” your pharmacy for DIMIRS. It will be sent to your shared NHS e-mail address.  It is very imperative that you respond to this e-mail, as you will not be “activated” unless you respond to that e-mail.. Not being activated will mean your pharmacy will not be on the list to which patients can be referred to.

The webinar from the engagement events – this will be uploaded on Sonar and can be used as a refresher as well as for all those additional pharmacists in the pharmacy who did not make it to one of the engagement events

The FAQs (frequently asked questions) from the engagement events in London (& other areas)  – these can be found on Sonar too

NHSE (London) has produced an addendum to the SLA & an updated GP notification form – both of which you can find it on Sonar platform.

DMIRS Service Contact Details for Queries

· Technical difficulties with DMIRS registration: nhsbsa.DMIRS@nhs.net

· Local DMIRS enquiries: england.lon-DMIRS@nhs.net

· Pharmacy Integration DMIRS enquiries: england.pharmacyintegration@nhs.net