On 31 January, NHS England launched the Pharmacy First initiative, whereby patients in England will be able to get treatment for seven common conditions at their high street pharmacy without needing to see a GP.

Community pharmacists can play an important role in delivering non-urgent basic care, which in theory can help reduce our incredibly busy workload as GPs.

However, there are concerns that this scheme is being rolled out too quickly, and will rely on an inadequate IT infrastructure that will ultimately increase the administrative burden on practices, not lessen it.

With almost 2,000 fewer fully qualified, full-time GPs than in 2015, this will put further pressure on a system already close to breaking point. 

What patients want, and have always wanted, is the ability to access what they need from their local practice in a timely manner, and this must remain a priority.

This remains in the Government's gift; we urge them to allow existing ring-fenced funds, currently used to employ non-medical practitioners, to be used more flexibly, so that practices can hire more GPs and nurses who are ideally placed to manage simple conditions.

If your practice is experiencing issues as a result of the scheme, please do contact the LMC with details of the issues and the number involved, together with the outcome you’d be looking for.