‘Pull your socks up!’ CPE slams new ‘one-off’ Pharmacy First media campaign
The negotiator says NHS England (NHSE) will roll out another Pharmacy First media campaign “later this year” but stressed it must “do more”.
“We need the NHS to be pulling its socks up” when it comes to promoting Pharmacy First, Community Pharmacy England (CPE) has said.
During a regional roadshow presentation published by the negotiator last week (August 9), CPE’s NHS services director Alastair Buxton revealed that NHSE has “agreed to do a further campaign” pushing Pharmacy First “later on this year”.
Read more: Sector calls for ‘clearer Pharmacy First messaging’ amid patient aggression
A launch date for the new campaign has not been confirmed.
“But the message from us, and the other pharmacy bodies, is it's no use having a one-off campaign”, Buxton said.
“This needs to be continuous advertising, whether it's NHSE simply doing that or integrated care boards (ICBs) at a local level,” he added.
“Frankly, not very effective”
“The comms campaign we had from NHS England earlier in the year was not very effective frankly, I think that is the polite way putting it,” Buxton said.
He added “that's one area where [pharmacies] stepped up to deliver this service but frankly, the NHS…needs to do more”.
“We are continuously telling NHSE that they need to do more,” he stressed.
The news comes after NHSE’s February Pharmacy First media campaign was met with criticism earlier this year.
CPE urged NHSE to use the campaign to make the service’s eligibility criteria “as clear as possible” following reports of patients “yelling and throwing items” at pharmacists.
At the time, local news outlets said that pharmacists suffered “aggression from people due to restrictions in place for certain ailments” since the Pharmacy First service’s launch in January.
“Extensive advertising”
Responding to the comments, an NHS spokesperson told C+D yesterday (August 12) that “the NHS has run an extensive advertising campaign” for Pharmacy First.
This has included “video on demand, online video, social media, and poster sites in public spaces on the support patients can now receive at their pharmacist,” they said.
Read more: Inside the pharmacy doing 3,000 Pharmacy First consultations a month
“We are now working closely with ICBs to support pharmacies and general practices to ensure the right patients can be seen in pharmacy settings, offering a more convenient option for those with minor illness, and an opportunity to better manage capacity across primary care,” they added.
“Pharmacy First is giving patients quick, easy access to support for common conditions through their high street pharmacy,” they stressed.
No evidence base?
Buxton also stressed that another “significant problem” with Pharmacy First “relates to the monthly thresholds”.
“[NHSE] came up with the activity levels…to achieve that monthly payment,” he said.
“We don't really think that there's an evidence base for the levels that they chose” – “right from the start of negotiations that we didn't think the levels were appropriate,” Buxton added.
Last month, CPE announced that ministers had decided “to adjust the August threshold for the Pharmacy First service to 15”.
Buxton said that the reduced threshold “Is not a complete solution” but is “at least a step in the right direction”.
The news came after new data from the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) revealed that pharmacies in England delivered an average of 16.8 NHS Pharmacy First service consultations for the seven clinical pathways in April.
But 1,598 pharmacies recorded no consultations under the clinical pathways and 785 secured between one and five consultations in April, lower than the threshold for the month.
And one pharmacy recorded over 3,000 Pharmacy First consultations for minor illnesses during April alone.
