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The new data from NHS England has revealed that more than 100,000 patients were treated for minor illness by their high street pharmacist in just one month. According to new NHS figures, in June, 118,123 people with minor illnesses such as a sore throat or constipation, or those in need of medicine urgently, received a same-day consultation with their local pharmacist after calling NHS 111 or their GP practice - an increase of more than four-fifths (83%) on the number in the same month last year (64,512). The data comes alongside expanded roles for community pharmacies ahead of winter, announced at the NHS England board meeting today. "From this week, NHS 111 online can directly refer people to their high street pharmacist for a same-day consultation, rather than patients needing to call the phone line," said NHS England. Amanda Pritchard, NHS chief executive, said: "Our local pharmacies ensure hundreds of thousands of people every week get the support and medication they need and today's figures show that in just one month, over 100,000 patients have also had consultations with their local pharmacist for minor illnesses - this means patients are getting the care they need quickly but also in a convenient way that can fit in with their busy lives.

The Community Pharmacist Consultation Service (CPCS) has been running as a national advanced service since October 2019 to relieve pressure on the National Health Service which aims to help with on the day demand in relation to minor illness and medicines. The NHS Community Pharmacist Consultation Service CPCS (NHS CPCS) aims to meet the objectives of the NHS Long Term Plan to use community pharmacists' skills to advise patients, and to build relationships with GP surgeries, primary care teams and wider NHS providers and to assist with urgent care system repeat prescription requests. Referrals from the GP referral pathway and urgent care systems and urgent treatment centres are digitally routed to community pharmacies so that patients can receive same-day appointments and have their queries resolved. The numbers Based on the estimated annual number of minor ailment GP appointments, the service was expected to save the NHS up to £640 million per year . Three years later, the nation has weathered the Covid 19 pandemic, which had widespread effects and put further strain on already overstretched NHS staff. The pandemic impact has resulted in higher numbers of GP appointments than initially anticipated. Nevertheless, this may offer an opportunity to proactively engage pharmacy teams in patient contact help ease strain across the wider NHS.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde has appointed Jennifer Laskey as Scotland's first consultant pharmacist, marking a significant step forward for pharmacy profession in the country. Laskey's new role involves providing support to the West of Scotland Cancer Network, where she will play a pivotal role in enhancing healthcare outcomes. Her appointment underscores the commitment of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde to improving patient care and highlights the growing importance of pharmacist-led initiatives in Scotland's healthcare landscape. Laskey, a pharmacist from Scotland, will extend her expertise to bolster the West of Scotland Cancer Network, aiming to enhance outcomes and survival rates across various healthcare settings. As part of recruitment to become a consultant pharmacist, Laskey obtained credentials from the RPS serving in an accredited consultant post ensuring standardisation across the UK for patients and the system.

NHS Somerset is aiming to grow its referral rate through GP Community Pharmacist Consultation Service (GP CPCS) to between 4,000 to 6,000 patients a month. Since June 2021 GPs in Somerset have successfully referred around 1,000 patients a month through the Somerset GP Community Pharmacist Consultation Service (GP CPCS) Currently, 59 of NHS Somerset's 64 GP practices and all of Somerset's 102 community pharmacists are using the Somerset GP CPCS. NHS Somerset found that providing the right training for GPs and for reception staff and practice managers was key to a smooth rollout and uptake of the service. As was making sure the technology worked when making referrals from general practice to community pharmacists. NHS Somerset is using software called Patient Access Connect, which seamlessly integrates with the EMIS Web GP system used in Somerset, to give practices a quick and easy way to capture the patient information needed to deliver a referral.

Community pharmacists in England have launched a new digital platform called My Local Surgery, enabling patients to access Pharmacy First consultations online. This initiative, a part of the NHS Pharmacy First scheme, facilitates free video consultations for six common conditions, connecting patients with community pharmacists for clinical advice and treatment. The platform, spearheaded by a team of pharmacy, tech, and clinical services experts, including experienced community pharmacists Darren Lingaloo and Gulraj Dhillon, tech specialist Nav Ramiah, and Dr. Adam Kirk, a seasoned NHS and digital healthcare professional, seeks to meet the rising demand for clinical services. Darren Lingaloo, co-founder and chief pharmacist at My Local Surgery, said: "The evolving role of pharmacists is long overdue and has the potential to save millions of GP appointments every year.

A recent Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) survey revealed that 80 per cent of its member working in the NHS in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland rejected the NHS pay award. "For the first time in the history of our union, members have told us they are so angry that they would not rule out industrial action in conjunction with other NHS unions," said Paul Moloney, PDA Union national officer. "It is important that, whoever is to lead the government, they listen to this message and act now to ensure our members and others in the NHS do not face swinging cuts to their standard of living." PDA members were asked whether they would support industrial action if they had rejected the award and if other NHS unions would be taking industrial action. 58 per cent of those responding said they would support the PDA Union taking industrial action if members of other unions were also planning to take action on this issue. For now, however, the PDA Union will wait for other unions to publish the outcomes of their own consultations. As a union dedicated to representing the needs of only pharmacists, the PDA has been able to quickly survey members immediately after the pay award was announced.

ECG has launched a new 'simple and straightforward' Patient Group Direction (PGD) service for pharmacists working in primary care, together with a service which offers direct access to an NHS Consultant for medical advice to offer robust safeguarding as and when needed. Taking on more clinical services with the PGDs can feel daunting and a big responsibility for healthcare professionals. ECG's new medical advice service (for anyone purchasing their PGDs) will offer pharmacists the opportunity to call and speak to a clinical member of the ECG team who will triage the calls and support them. If required, the call will be connected to an experienced NHS Consultant to offer immediate medical advice. The service will start with a Monday-Friday 08:30-16:30hrs provision with an option to increase to 24 /7 for those working out of hours. This is inclusive in the PGD pricing offer. ECG has been the market leader in providing vaccination training to pharmacists since 2004, providing robust knowledge and clinical skills to enable pharmacists to develop their private and NHS commissioned vaccination services (such as flu and covid). By developing their close working relationship with all of the multiples, many smaller chains, membership groups and independents over the years, ECG has continued to further consolidate their 'one stop shop' approach to supporting the sector. ECG wants to offer this sector choices in the level of guidance and support that the individual healthcare professionals feel they need to offer safe care to patients.

The large majority of adults in the England knew that flu jabs are available in many pharmacies, just over half were aware of the GP Community Pharmacist Consultation Service or the New Medicine Service, according to a new survey by the National Pharmacy Association (NPA). The new survey revealed the need to raise the public awareness of key NHS services such as the New Medicine Service. According to the survey, 56 per cent of those asked believed that pharmacies in England offer NHS consultations for people newly prescribed a medicine for a long-term condition. While 48 per cent believed that many pharmacies in England offer blood pressure monitoring (NHS or private). 51 per cent believed it to be true that GPs can formally refer patients for same-day clinical advice from their local pharmacist about minor ailments.

The Department of Health has published 'A Guide to Developing the Role of Consultant Pharmacists' in Northern Ireland on Thursday (22 June). The guidance provides direction on supporting a consistent approach to the introduction of senior clinical pharmacy roles within and across HSC organisations. The Chief Pharmaceutical Officer Professor Cathy Harrison said: "There is a recognised need for increased clinical pharmacy and medicines focussed leadership across our HSC." "Consultant Pharmacists have an essential role in healthcare as clinicians and as leaders who make a significant impact to medicines optimisation and clinical governance, providing a vital link between clinical practice and service development by generating and disseminating evidence to drive improvements in care. "I am delighted that this guidance has been published to take forward the strategic development and appointment of the consultant pharmacy workforce in both primary and secondary care and to enable pharmacy to be at the forefront of healthcare in NI".

The GP Community Pharmacist Consultation Service (GP CPCS) is also delivering 'unexpected' insights to help transform patient care and facilitate integrated working between pharmacists and GPs across Greater Manchester. Since April 2021, almost 14,000 appointments have been referred using the GP CPCS across the Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership - a figure that is growing as its success gathers pace and they continue to support practices to increase referral activity. Joshua Nolan, a pharmacist at Internet Pharmacy in Heywood, one of the first in the area to join the referral service, said: "The number of patients we're seeing from GP CPCS has been building consistently month-on-month. On average we see around 50 patients, but recently we recorded 53 in just one week." The pharmacist, who has been practising for six years and is also an independent prescriber, believes the GP CPCS has helped bring about more awareness to the clinical services community pharmacy can offer.

Reena Mehta, consultant pharmacist in the Critical Care team at NHS King's College Hospital, has been announced as chair of the Learning Division for the Intensive Care Society. Mehta took up the post with effect from 8th April, and is the first pharmacist to hold the role of Chair of the Learning Division within the Society. "It is a privilege to be part of the Society and support its life-saving work to enhance our understanding of critical illness and deliver better care to patients," "The intensive care community is made up of multiple professions, each playing a vital role within the critical care team, and I am extremely proud to be the first pharmacist appointed to this important role." In her role as chair of the Learning Division, Mehta will oversee the content of the Society's study days and be responsible for exploring new opportunities for the Intensive Care Society to provide training for our multi professional intensive care community.

Nine in ten people surveyed by Ipsos on behalf on NHS positively rated the advice they received from their local pharmacies. The results from Ipsos found that the vast majority of patients (91%) who had used a community pharmacy in the previous year for advice about medicines, a health problem or injury, or what health service they should use said they received good advice. The research comes as more than 11,000 pharmacies in England can now access training to spot signs of cancer as part of a new drive to catch tumours earlier when they are easier to treat. Thorrun Govind, Chair of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society English Pharmacy Board, said: "Community pharmacists are working exceptionally hard to make sure that the public gets the right advice at the right time. This new data shows the public appreciate both the accessibility and quality of advice they receive from community pharmacists. "I am delighted that the Royal Pharmaceutical Society is working with the NHS to deliver professional development for community pharmacists to further enhance their clinical consultation skills.

Northern Ireland's chief pharmaceutical officer paid a visit to a community pharmacy in Belfast on Monday (November 7) - marking the end of this year's Ask Your Pharmacist week, an annual public awareness campaign launched by the National Pharmacy Association. Cathy Harrison interacted with patients and staff in the pharmacy before recording a video to promote NI's 'Pharmacy First' service in which she described community pharmacies as "one of the front doors to the health service" with over 500 outlets located across the country. "In our community pharmacies you can always rely on friendly staff, medicines expertise, and walk-in access to face-to-face advice," she said. First launched in Scotland, the NHS Pharmacy First service enables patients to have a consultation with a pharmacist for advice on minor ailments. Ms Harrison also drew attention to community pharmacy's role in cancer awareness and helping people to quit smoking, as well as managing patients with urinary tract infections, in addition to playing their part in delivering Covid-19 and flu vaccinations.

The Community Pharmacist Consultation Service (CPCS) will be expanded to enable urgent and emergency care settings to refer patients to a community pharmacist for a consultation for minor illness or urgent medicine supply from Monday (15 May), the DHSC and NHSE said. The service builds on the progress made in GP referrals via the CPCS and hospital referrals under the Discharge Medicine Service. It was originally planned to launch in March, and fee for this service will be the existing CPCS fee of £14, as per the agreement for both year 4 and year 5 of the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF) 2019 to 2024 5-year deal. In an update on the CPCF, published today (12 May), the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and NHS England (NHSE) has also committed to the 4 October 2023 launch date for the Tier 2 of the Pharmacy Contraception Service, subject to a positive evaluation of the pilot. The Tier 1 of the service was launched on 24 April, delayed by over three months. This new service enables community pharmacists to provide ongoing management, via a patient group direction (PGD), of routine oral contraception that was initiated in general practice or by a sexual health clinic. The fees for this service are as follows: a fee for each consultation of £18; and a set-up fee of £900, paid in instalments. The Tier 2 will "enable community pharmacists to also initiate oral contraception, via a PGD, and provide ongoing clinical checks and annual reviews," Alette Addison, deputy director for pharmacy, dental and optical at the DHSC and Ali Sparke, director for dentistry, community pharmacy and optometry at the NHSE, said in a letter.

The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC)'s 2022 Pharmacy Advice Audit revealed that more than 1.2 million consultations a week - or 65 million a year - are now being carried out by community pharmacy teams in England. This is an increase from 2021, when the audit results suggested that in total pharmacies were providing 58 million consultations per year. PSNC has published the findings of the audit of over 4,000 community pharmacies carried out earlier this year. During the audit, 82,872 informal patient consultations were recorded, with the average pharmacy completing 19 consultations per day. This suggests that more than 1.2 million informal consultations are taking place in community pharmacies in England every week. The audit helped to quantify the number of informal referrals being made to pharmacies by GPs and NHS 111, with 7,774 informal patient referrals into pharmacy coming from these routes; grossed up to a national level that means 117,000 cases per week. These are all referrals that could and should have been made by the NHS Community Pharmacist Consultation Service (CPCS).

LloydsPharmacy has offered three per cent increase in base pay backdated to 1 April for its store pharmacists, the union of Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDAU) who represented them has announced. "We are pleased to announce that following a consultation of its members, the PDAU has informed the company that agreement can be reached on the company's latest offer, made in July 2022," said the PDAU. The offer made by the company also includes introduction of an overtime rate of 1.5 times basic pay for each hour worked after contracted hours. This will run for a trial period and be reviewed as part of the next pay round. "All pharmacists will receive an initial £1,000 payment under the proposed LTIP scheme, paid in April 2024. This will be to all in the bargaining unit and will not be dependent on meeting any criteria such as targets," said PDAU.

The nationwide implementation of the Pharmacy First service is viewed as a significant development that benefits pharmacies, primary care, and the broader National Health Service (NHS). Pharmacy teams are striving to ensure its success despite challenges within the industry landscape. However, not all pharmacists are able to reap the benefits from it. Recently, two members of Numark shared their experiences of how the scheme is impacting their pharmacies. Graham Phillips, who owns Letchworth Pharmacy in Hertfordshire, revealed that patients are responding favourably to the service. "It's all good, people are just delighted to have easier access to care," he said. In its first month, Letchworth Pharmacy provided around 100 consultations, and Phillips envisions that as the service matures, they will be able to conduct an average of 200 interventions per week. "That will make it financially viable for us and mean that we're acting at scale from an NHS perspective. That's 200 GP appointments we've freed up in a week - that's a huge capability and capacity bump for the NHS," he added. Graham credits part of his success with Pharmacy First to the strong relationship he has established with local GPs in his area.

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) is seeking views of pharmacists to help shape the future of pharmacy practice in England over the next decade. The RPS's project with The King's Fund, transforming pharmacy practice, aims to develop a vision for the role of pharmacists and pharmacy teams working across systems, providing patient care and NHS services. It's due to be published at the end of the year. "From 15 August to 30 September we are asking people to respond to our consultation on six key themes," the RPS said. "We'll also be holding face-to-face and virtual events in September to hear your views." The King's Fund has completed a literature review which has helped inform the initial six themes which will be the focus of the consultation, all of which can be downloaded and read before responding.

Community pharmacy contractors eligible under the revised Pharmacy Access Scheme (PhAS) will receive their first of the new monthly payments with the January reconciliation payment due on April 1, 2022. Details of the revised version of the PhAS that commenced from January 1, was published in August 2021, with contractors receiving letters from the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) indicating their eligibility in the Autumn, PSNC said in an update. Payments under the scheme are dependent on registration on NHSBSA's Manage Your Service (MYS) portal to provide the Community Pharmacist Consultation Service(CPCS). Meanwhile, the review application window is now open for contractors, which would enable the NHS England and NHS Improvement (NHSE&I) to correct inaccuracies related to a pharmacy's distance criteria/calculation.

Royal Pharmaceutical Society in England and the Royal College of General Practitioners have published recommendations for the roll-out and success of the GP Community Pharmacist Consultation Service (GP CPCS). These recommendations follow a workshop with stakeholders from pharmacy, general practice and representative bodies, examining ways to maximise the potential of the service and meet growing demand on the health service. The workshop report made five recommendations: The NHS England and Improvement should provide additional investment in local system support and resources to drive the CPCS implementation and uptake between general practice and community pharmacy. National representative bodies should work with NHS E&I to develop national and local engagement and streamline communication plans for CPCS referral pathway. Focus on expanding the role of community pharmacists in the management of minor illness. Evaluation of CPCS service and its impacts on general practice workload, patient outcomes and health inequalities.