To free up millions of family doctor appointments, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak
is launching a scheme under which 7m people a year, suffering from conditions like sore throat, shingles and ear ache, no longer need to visit a GP but can get scripts directly from pharmacies.
Reducing GP waiting lists and ending the “8am scramble” for appointments is part of a plan to boost political support after losses at the local elections, for which defeated councillors blamed problems with the NHS, among other things.
Sunak is expected to promote the plan as evidence he is “getting on with” delivering his five priorities with reform of primary care as a key part of his pledge to reduce NHS waiting lists.
He says the switch from GPs to pharmacies will free up 15m appointments within two years, as the pharmacy initiative is allied to a £240m package to train receptionists to refer patients to chemists if necessary, and to upgrade phone systems so no one gets an engaged tone when they phone their local surgery.
Surveys show one in seven patients did not get a GP appointment the last time they tried to book. One in three reported difficulties contacting their practice, with patients often stuck in long queues on jammed telephone lines.
The Telegraph reports that the number of patients waiting for NHS treatment has hit 7m, with 58.5% waiting up to 18 weeks, missing the target of 92%.
The new plan, backed by £645m over two years, will expand pharmacies to allow them to provide prescriptions for seven conditions – sinusitis, sore throat, earache, infected insect bite, impetigo, shingles, and uncomplicated urinary tract infections – without patients needing a GP appointment.
The number of women getting their contraception from a pharmacy rather than a GP will increase to 500 000, with the aim of one in four doing so by 2024. Pharmacy blood checks for people suffering from moderate risk of heart attack or stroke will more than double from 900 000 last year to 2.5m next year. Up to half a million people will also be able to self-refer for key services, including physiotherapy, hearing tests, and podiatry, without seeing their GP first.
The NHS is aiming for 2m people to get their prescriptions via a pharmacy in 2023/24, rising to 7m in 2024/25 as awareness of the service grows.
‘Positive steps’
There are, however, concerns about the feasibility of increasing pharmacies’ roles as the number of chemists has fallen by 160 over the past two years to 11 026, the lowest number since 2015.
Pharmacies have blamed rising operational costs, staff shortages and reduced government financial support. Dr Leyla Hannbeck, chief executive of the Association of Independent Multiple Pharmacies, said a funding shortfall of £1.1bn had left many chemists “severely struggling with cashflow problems”.
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
SA’s prescription rules unchanged in 30 years, leaving nurses disadvantaged
Community pharmacies can help reduce illegal abortions in SA
Medicines regulator may restrict codeine to prescription only
1.3m UK asthma sufferers skip doses because of prescription charges
NHI inadequate for medicines provision, warns lobby group