NHS England (NHSE) has launched an online guide for headache care to support pharmacists and GP teams. 

The Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) programme, launched last week (September 24), aims to guide healthcare professionals through “assessment, management and treatment options (where appropriate), based on national standards and best evidence”. 

Read more: NHS app to use AI to direct patients to appropriate services 

NHSE said it worked with a “large multidisciplinary group to develop the interactive standardised pathway”, which is co-badged by the Royal College of Pharmacy (RCPharm) and the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP). 

The programme is the first national pathway and decision-making tool for the care of patients presenting with headache symptoms.  

When accessing the website, healthcare professionals are asked to answer whether a patient has presented to a community pharmacy or a general practice.  

Read more: NHS to defuse confusion over free prescriptions and warn off fraudulent claims 

Then, through a series of questions, the online pathway guides healthcare professionals to the relevant information dependent on the presenting patient’s symptoms and history and advises the healthcare professional on what their next course of action should be.  

It comes after NHSE accelerated the rollout of a new AI triage tool in July that directs patients to “the most appropriate NHS service”. 

And it follows the NHS Business Services Authority publishing “communication toolkits” last month for community pharmacists to promote potential health cost savings to the public, including free prescriptions.