NHS England have announced a £112 million investment in new roles for pharmacists in general practice as part of a wider initiative to improve primary care for patients, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) reports.
They have committed to enable every practice in England to access a pharmacist across a minimum population on average of 30,000 – leading to an extra 1,500 pharmacists in general practice over the next five years.
This investment is on top of the existing £31 million investment by NHS England to co-fund around 450 pharmacist roles in general practice.
NHS England have stated that ‘appetite for the original pilot scheme was high.’
Although there is more to learn from the evaluation, early indications suggest surgery-based pharmacists may have a role in streamlining practice prescription processes, medicines optimisation, minor ailments and long term conditions management. Pharmacists in GP surgeries will be able to support better working between GP’s, hospital pharmacists and community pharmacists and the transfer of patient care.
NHS England have committed to roll this out further across the country over the next five years, so that every practice can benefit from the clinical skills of a pharmacist. Importantly NHS England will also open up the pharmacist training programme for practice based pharmacists to practices that have directly funded a pharmacist themselves.
Commenting on the announcement Sandra Gidley, RPS England Board Chair, said, ‘It was only just over a year ago we began a campaign with the Royal College of GPs (RCGP) to ensure every GP practice had access to a pharmacist as part of the practice team.
‘Sometimes I am challenged as to how effective the RPS is in achieving the ambitions we have for the profession. I would hope the announcement will leave no doubt that we are an organisation that can deliver real and lasting improvements for the profession and patient care.
‘The creation of around 2,000 new jobs for pharmacists, in an era of austerity where value must be proven rather than assumed, shows a strong commitment to the profession from the very top of NHS England. GPs want to work alongside pharmacists, for pharmacists to be part of the team, alongside nurses, mental health workers and others. I know that many pharmacists, from all sectors, want this too – and now there is an opportunity for many more pharmacists to consider this option alongside more established roles.
‘I would encourage pharmacists to investigate this career opportunity, we will be making sure support and development is provided through the RPS Faculty and our direct support services. We look forward to working with RCGP, NHS England National Association of Primary Care and NHS Clinical Commissioners to step up actions to grow the pharmacy workforce and stimulate a more diverse range of workforce models within primary care.’
