Concerns raised over flagship Pharmacy First scheme

The lights are out, the windows are darkened and the pharmacist is dressed in black – a protest on England’s high streets over closures and funding.

Next is an unprecedented ballot on working to rule in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, called today by the National Pharmacy Association.

But Channel 4 News has also found that there are concerns over the flagship scheme, Pharmacy First.

It took us some time to get the Department of Health and Social Care to release minutes of a meeting through freedom of information.   When it arrived, we could see questions were being asked in a ministerial meeting  about the shortage of pharmacists, infrastructure issues, IT incompatibility between GPs and pharmacies, and potential confidentiality issues if doing consultations in the pharmacy.

The Chief Medical Officer, Professor Sir Chris Whitty, was also asking about pharmacies’ increasing  prescribing of broad-spectrum antibiotics and warning that it could be the  single biggest risk to anti-microbial resistance in the UK.

Pharmacy First was introduced in England in January and had been running for some time in Scotland.  The FOIs show civil servants warning that while a similar scheme in Scotland had been broadly successful because of growing  investment in the pharmacy sector, in England it would be introduced following real terms cuts to funding of 25% by the end of 2023/24.

The aim is to take some of the pressure off general practice and allows pharmacists to care and prescribe for seven common conditions, including ear aches, sore throats and urinary tract infections.

At the same time 1,500 pharmacies have been forced to close over the past decade.  They are routinely dispensing NHS medicines at a loss, according to the National Pharmacy Association, and a survey  in 2022 found that 70 per cent believe they are understaffed.

In a statement, the Department of Health and Social Care said: “This government inherited a broken NHS where pharmacies have been neglected for years.

“Pharmacies are key to making healthcare fit for the future as we shift the focus of the NHS out of hospitals and into the community. “