Pharmacy First: New funded pharmacy PCN liaison role as just 31% of GPs refer
Details on the new relationship-building primary care network (PCN) role come as pharmacy organisations have continued to warn that most GP practices are not making Pharmacy First referrals.
NHS England (NHSE) this week (May 28) revealed that it will fund new community pharmacy “engagement leads” in PCNs “to support the regional implementation” of the Pharmacy First, blood pressure and contraception services.
In a backdated announcement, NHSE said that the new role “is being funded by NHSE for this financial year” – “from April 1 2024 until March 31 2025”.
It added that integrated care boards (ICBs) will be given £1,040 per PCN to “manage delivery” of the new position.
“The expectation is that the role will function as a point of contact for local community pharmacies and for general practices in the PCN,” NHSE said.
“By building local relationships between community pharmacy and general practice, the role will help to ensure high quality and appropriate referrals from general practice to community pharmacy,” it added.
Although the role will be expected to “represent community pharmacy”, NHSE stressed that they are “not required to be registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC)”.
“Patchwork quilt”
The announcement comes as the Company Chemists’ Association (CCA) today (May 30) released Pharmacy First data showing that just “three in ten (31%) GP surgeries have referred a patient to pharmacies” for the service.
It said that analysis of CCA pharmacies’ consultation data in the first 11 weeks of Pharmacy First also found that seven in ten (69%) of those referrals came from “just 7% of GP surgeries”.
The membership body added that 69% of GP surgeries had “made no electronic referrals at all”, with the top integrated care system (ICS) benefitting “from seven times more Pharmacy First consultations than the lowest performing”.
“The Pharmacy First service is resembling a ‘patchwork quilt’ across the country with a wide variance between ICSs,” it said.
And it added that its data indicates that the NHS’ Pharmacy First media campaign “had little to no impact” on public awareness of the service.
Surgery referrals “root cause” of issues
Earlier this week (May 27), Avicenna chair Salim Jetha also told C+D that the “root cause” of issues with Pharmacy First was a “lack of referrals coming from GPs”.
A poll by the pharmacy group found that only 38% of Avicenna partner pharmacies were confident they could complete the ten clinical pathways currently required to claim a monthly Pharmacy First payment.
“Some members have had face-to-face meetings with GP and staff on Pharmacy First – yet no referrals,” Jetha said.
He added that referrals are “very patchy” and “surgery dependent”.
“One member mentioned that GPs would rather deal with simpler cases themselves rather than leasing time for more complex cases,” he said.
“What would help would be to set targets for surgeries to force referrals”, as well as a relaxation of the threshold system, greater public advertising and a resolution of current IT issues, he added.
Meanwhile last week (May 22), Community Pharmacy England (CPE) admitted that “previous experience” from service rollouts suggested that “sustained effort may be required to ensure that [GP] referrals are made and continue to be made over the following months”.
And earlier this month, the doctors’ union denied that GPs are reluctant to “engage with Pharmacy First” but said that the Pharmacy First service is “increasing the burden” on GPs and “putting further pressure” on primary care.
