The NHS’s plans to treat more patients in pharmacies could fail because too many chemists have quit for jobs in GP practices, industry leaders have warned.
The ‘Pharmacy First’ program will launch on Wednesday, allowing patients to receive care in more than 10,000 community pharmacies in England.
They can come in for a consultation with a pharmacist for seven conditions, without having to make an appointment or see a doctor.
NHS England hopes it will free up as many as 30 million GP appointments each year.
But the Company Chemist Association (CCA) warned the initiative is doomed unless GP practices are banned from recruiting more pharmacists.
NHS plans to treat more patients in pharmacies could fail because too many chemists have quit for jobs in GP practices, industry leaders have warned (Stock Image)
The trade body, which represents leading chains such as Boots and Superdrug, says there are so many pharmacists now working for GPs that they are struggling to recruit for their stores.
The NHS has encouraged GPs to recruit non-medical staff such as pharmacists, physiotherapists and paramedics in a bid to close staff shortages and ease pressure on GPs.
But the CCA is now demanding an immediate freeze on hiring.
The shortage has pushed up locum pharmacy rates, increased trading costs and led to temporary closures, it added.
The ‘Pharmacy First’ program launches on Wednesday, allowing patients to receive care in more than 10,000 community pharmacies in England, but the Company Chemist Association (CCA) warned the initiative is doomed unless GP practices are banned from recruiting more pharmacists ( Stock Image). )
This is because pharmacies are not allowed to open unless there is at least one pharmacist on site.
Under the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS), which was introduced in 2019, the NHS will reimburse GPs for the salaries and some costs of 17 staff roles within their care teams, including ‘clinical pharmacists’.
As of September 2023, almost 5,300 full-time pharmacists had been recruited into general practices through the ARRS.
Meanwhile, the average hourly wage in England has risen by 85 percent, from £20.02 in 2020 to £37.14 in July 2023.
The CCA is calling for a pause on further ARRS recruitment of pharmacists until a review of its impact on the sector and benefits to patients has been carried out.
Under the Extra Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS), introduced in 2019, the NHS will reimburse GPs for the salaries and some costs of 17 staff roles within their care teams, including ‘clinical pharmacists’ (Stock Image)
Malcolm Harrison, chief executive of the CCA, said: ‘In its attempts to solve the GP shortage, the NHS has only created a shortage of community pharmacists and increased the cost of doing business.
‘This short-sighted ‘mep-a-mole’ policy has been to the detriment of the public pharmacy sector.
‘Pharmacists are being asked to take on more and more work to free up GP capacity, but we need pharmacists in the pharmacies again.
“We’re excited about Pharmacy First, but we can’t deliver the new service with one hand tied behind our back.”
As of September 2023, almost 5,300 full-time pharmacists had been recruited into general practices through the ARRS (image)
Pharmacies signed up to NHS Pharmacy First can opt out and prescribe medicines for earaches, sore throats, sinusitis, shingles, impetigo, urinary tract infections and infected insect bites and stings.
In 2019, the NHS rolled out the ARRS, which sets out its ‘intention… to build additional capacity through new roles, helping to address staff shortages in general practice’.
However, a report from the King’s Fund think tank on ARRS found that many pharmacists felt ‘they were not being given tasks that matched their competencies’, and that ‘many felt…undervalued’, while some ‘often felt isolated ‘.