Six pharmacists have been placed in GP surgeries across Trafford in Manchester, in a bid to improve access to healthcare in the heart of the community, reduce GP clinical workloads and help patients get the most out of their medication through enhancing the quality and efficiency of prescribing.

The three year project is being funded jointly between NHS England, Trafford Primary Health and NHS Trafford Clinical Commissioning Group’s New Models of Primary Care project.

The pharmacists joined practices in February, with a further four expected to start in the summer.

Before starting work with participating practices, each pharmacist underwent a four-week extensive clinical induction with the CCG’s medicines optimisation team and participating GP practices. Ongoing clinical training will be supported by the Centre for Pharmacy Post-Graduate Education, based at the University of Manchester, including eventually being able to prescribe medication to patients.

Haseeb Khan, one of the pharmacists placed in Primary Care as part of the first phase of the initiative, said: “We are really excited to be pioneering the role for pharmacists in GP practice in Trafford."

Rebecca Demaine, Acting Director of Commissioning at NHS Trafford Clinical Commissioning Group, added: “This is an exciting opportunity to support GP practices and bring more and better quality and access to healthcare into the community as an early part of the New Models of Primary Care.”