Red Box Healthcare has launched a training service to allow independent and small chain pharmacies to supply malaria and erectile dysfunction POMs without a prescription.The training and registration will enable pharmacists to supply the medicines under a private patient group direction (PGD). The course costs £45 per year per PGD and allows pharmacists to qualify using an online assessment.Participating pharmacists will have to update their patient medication records when they dispense the medications, as well as completing a patient assessment form to be kept for six years.Red Box Healthcare said private PGDs could provide a “valuable income source” for pharmacists. Mike Cottingham, community pharmacist in Grimsby and director of Red Box Healthcare, said the services have proved popular in his area.“I started offering the services last week and by Saturday I had seen three patients asking for malarials already without advertising it,” he told C+D. “People like the convenience of going to a pharmacist rather than going to see a GP.”Mr Cottingham said the services could provide welcome revenue streams at a time when NHS income was unstable. “It could potentially generate hundreds of pounds – it depends how much effort pharmacies put into marketing the service,” he said.Further details of the service are available on the website at www.pharmacypgd.co.uk