Pharmacists to treat patients and free up GP appointments

PHARMACISTS will be given extra powers to see and treat patients from this Wednesday and free up as many as 30 million GP appointments per year.

Under Pharmacy First plans, people will be able to visit pharmacies like Boots to receive treatment for simple and common illnesses, instead of seeing a doctor.

They will be able to walk into more than 10,000 chemists in England for consultations without needing to book an appointment, under the scheme.

Pharmacists have been told they can treat and prescribe medication for seven conditions: earache, sore throats, sinusitis, shingles, impetigo, urinary tract infections and infected insect bites and stings.

Dr Claire Fuller, NHS medical director for primary care and lead GP, said that people “will be able to walk into your community pharmacist on your local high street after you’ve done your shopping or run your errands without booking an appointment”, and be assessed by a trained pharmacist.

“While GPS will always be on hand to help, pharmacists at the heart of our communities are a convenient and safe option for people to get help for common conditions,” she said. In Scotland, where the initiative has been rolled out, around a quarter of the population, or more than 1.2 million people, used the service instead of going to the GP in 2021-22, figures from Public Health Scotland show.

Of those accessing the service, 86 per cent went home with medication, 10 per cent with advice, while 4 per cent were referred on to another service, such as a GP. The NHS previously estimated that around 6 per cent of all GP appointments could be delivered by pharmacists, which is about 25 million based on 2023 data.