Tapping into the skills of clinical pharmacists should help expand care and relieve some of the pressure that GPs are clearly under

Pharmacy bodies have welcomed a new £15m scheme to fund clinical pharmacists in GP surgeries.

The three-year initiative, which will go live this year, will help fund around 300 pharmacists in its first wave to support GPs to manage long-term conditions, give medicines advice and provide health checks. Pharmacists will be employed directly by practices to ease GP workload and improve communication between general practice, hospitals and community pharmacists. The scheme, which is part of the New Deal for General Practice, will focus on areas of greatest need where GPs are under greatest pressure.

Launching the scheme yesterday, NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens said: “This has the potential to be a win-win-win for patients, their GPs and for pharmacists. Tapping into the skills of clinical pharmacists should help expand care and relieve some of the pressure that GPs are clearly under. This isn’t a silver bullet but it is a practical and constructive contribution to the wider challenge.”

GPs are struggling to cope with unprecedented workloads and patients in some parts of the country are having to wait weeks for a GP appointment, said Dr Maureen Baker, chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners. “Yet we have a ‘hidden army’ of highly trained pharmacists who could provide a solution. They will not be substitutes for GPs, but will work closely with us as part of the practice team to resolve day-to-day medicine issues, particularly for patients with long-term conditions who are taking a number of different medications.”

PSNC chief executive Sue Sharpe said: “We are pleased that NHS England recognises the medicines expertise of pharmacists and the role that they can play to better support patients in their treatment plans. We hope that this project will give community and other pharmacists a chance to explore new ways of working, and perhaps training, together to offer the best possible care to patients.”

The substantial investment shows the confidence that the NHS has in pharmacy to deliver direct patient care, said RPS English Board Chair Sandra Gidley. The English Pharmacy Board had fought to achieve this recognition, but it should not just about a single model of pharmacists working within GP practices, said Ms Gidley. “We want to see greater use of pharmacists across all health and care settings. We need to explore all potential new ways of joint working that optimise patient care.”

How it works

Applications by general practices to participate in the pilot will be assessed against a set of criteria and will be considered by NHS England regions and Health Education England, who can apply their local knowledge in support of applications. The final determination will be made by the national moderation panel consisting of all partner organisations.

NHS England will part fund the pharmacists’ pay costs for 36 months:

• 60 per cent for the first 12 months of employment
• 40 per cent for the second 12 months
• 20 per cent for the third 12 months
• 0 after the first 36 months of support (or fewer months if recruited after 31 March 2016).

NHS England has given the following examples of work that a clinical pharmacist may do in a GP practice:

• Providing clinical advice and expertise on treatments
• Developing bespoke medicine plans for individual patients
• Establishing ongoing professional relationships with individual patients
• Assisting with communication across a patient’s care pathway, including with GPs, hospitals and social care
• Monitoring patients with complex long term conditions such as hypertension or diabetes
• Managing repeat prescription requests
• Increasing the uptake of new medicines
• Managing medicines shortages by suggesting suitable alternatives where appropriate
• Supporting innovation and clinical research where appropriate
• Mentoring newer pharmacists.