The Pharmacists’ Defence Association (PDA) last week (January 30) released the results of a survey on the Pharmacy First service, highlighting that while most supported the scheme’s expansion, “the majority” called for caveats such as additional staffing.
The PDA conducted the online survey between January 16-26 to mark the one-year anniversary of the Pharmacy First Service in England on January 31 – it received 924 responses from its members.
Read more: Pharmacy First: Government ‘acting on’ GP refusal to engage
It revealed that 73% of respondents felt “they have been put under pressure to undertake Pharmacy First consultations” with “almost 60%” stating that the “pressure to meet targets came from area managers”.
“The pressure is there every month to reach a figure which feels wrong,” one respondent said, adding that “it should be pharmacist lead”.
Read more: ICB investigating plunge in Pharmacy First GP referrals
And a separate response highlighted that “there are targets set by head office” for Pharmacy First consultations.
“Non-clinical staff put pharmacists under immense pressure to the point of demanding pharmacists recruit patients by standing outside the store speaking to people passing by,” another respondent said.
“Not sustainable”
The survey also showed that insufficient staffing was a significant issue for most pharmacy workers taking part in the survey.
“75% of respondents do not believe that the pharmacies in which they work are adequately staffed to safely deliver the Pharmacy First service and other NHS contracted services,” it said.
One member told the PDA that “some pharmacies are a week behind on the usual workload” and stressed that the “constant manic pace” of providing regular pharmacy services alongside the Pharmacy First service “is not sustainable”.
Read more: MP: GPs need ‘financial incentive’ to engage with Pharmacy First
To address this issue, 95% of respondents said that they were “in favour of mandated staffing levels” to deliver the service safely.
Just 2% of respondents said that they thought “no improvements were needed” to the Pharmacy First service.
Patients “expect medication”
Meanwhile, 88% said that “more apparent advertising” of the service is needed to manage patients’ expectations about medicine supply, which is “dependent on the outcomes of a consultation with a pharmacist” and is not guaranteed.
“Patients automatically expect medication, especially antibiotics, EVERY time,” one response said.
Read more: GPs need to ‘feel confident’ about Pharmacy First referrals, says BMA
And others claimed that patients are “often told by GP surgery staff to go to a pharmacy to get antibiotics whether [or not] the service is available or whether antibiotics are appropriate”.
Looking to the future, over half (56%) of respondents agreed that Pharmacy First should be expanded further but stressed that there should be “certain conditions in place”.
And 98% of respondents said that “representatives of the pharmacist workforce should be part of discussions with the NHS...around any further expansion of contractual services including Pharmacy First”.
Read more: Third of public still ‘unaware’ of Pharmacy First service
PDA director of pharmacy Jay Badenhorst stressed that “the hurried introduction of the Pharmacy First service, along with the volume of training that needed to be undertaken, was extremely challenging for those already working at capacity”.
It comes as a minister last week revealed that the government is “acting on” reports that GPs are “unwilling to direct patients” to community pharmacies and Pharmacy First services.
