Pharmacists must not be seen as ‘GPs on the cheap’, RCGP say

The Royal College of GPs has warned that pharmacists and the services they provide must not be seen as ‘GPs on the cheap’ as a new report calls for “urgent action” to deliver on the potential of pharmacy teams.

The report by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Pharmacy highlights the need for a new “strategic vision” for pharmacy and highlights opportunities for the pharmacy network to be empowered to deliver even more for patients.

The recommendations are based on written and oral evidence gathered from frontline pharmacists, GPs, professional bodies and healthcare experts.

Pharmacists are not a substitute for GPs

The RCGP, however, said that although high street and online pharmacists do an excellent job for their communities and are providing invaluable support to many GP practice teams against a backdrop of huge workload and workforce pressures, they are not a substitute for GPs.

They should not be expected to work beyond their areas of competency, and the government will find that their role is not a solution to the chronic shortage of GPs as many patients come to see GPs with more than one problem, and these can be complex.

College Chair Professor Kamila Hawthorne added: “Pharmacy also has a workforce crisis, and their premises infrastructure will need considerable upgrading to be able to offer confidential services to patients. If implemented, this is not likely to be a money-saving option.

“Patients should be able to get high quality, safe, and appropriate care when they need it – and in many cases, they will need the expert diagnostic skills and expertise of a GP. Latest NHS figures hammer home how GPs and our teams are working harder than ever – the average full-time GP is caring for 120 more patients than they were in 2019. Yet over the same period, we have 737 fewer fully qualified, full-time equivalent GPs working in the NHS.

“We need the government to address the workforce crisis in general practice by devising and implementing a recruitment and retention strategy that will go beyond the 6,000 GPs promised and make GP workload more manageable by reducing unnecessary red tape and bureaucracy. We must also see a return to 11% of the total health spend in general practice, and investment in our IT systems and premises, so that GPs and their teams can deliver the care our patients need.”

Recommendations from the report

To harness the potential of pharmacy, the report recommendations that:

• • The government must take urgent action to relieve the funding pressures on the community pharmacy sector in the short term and review the long-term funding model for pharmacy.
  • The government must harness the power of pharmacy to help the NHS deal with the Covid-19 backlog and the UK’s growing healthcare challenges.
  • Future commissioning and funding must recognise that community pharmacy is the front door to the NHS for many patients.
  • The DHSC and NHS England must urgently re-evaluate the current and long-term workforce needs of the entire health and social care system, including pharmacy.
  • The Government should build on current commitments to provide funded training to ensure all existing pharmacists can train as independent prescribers, if they so choose.
  • For this ambitious new vision to be realised, community pharmacy must be placed at the heart of decision-making and policy development.

Thorrun Govind, Chair of Royal Pharmaceutical Society England said: “Pharmacists and pharmacy teams will play a crucial role in supporting the NHS recovery, reducing health inequalities, managing the growing cost of long-term conditions, and delivering best value from medicines.

“Today’s Pharmacy APPG report rightly highlights the need to support a more ambitious approach to advancing the clinical role of pharmacists across the NHS to enhance patient care, including through the growing number of pharmacist independent prescribers. With continued pressure on the health service, it is vital that the pharmacy workforce is supported to keep looking after patients.”