Pharmacy leaders have renewed calls for pharmacists to play a bigger role in NHS 111 following growing concerns about the beleaguered helpline service.

LPC chiefs argued that the "risk-averse" service needed improving to boost patient referrals to community pharmacy, after NHS England admitted last week (May 3) that the performance of the helpline was still unacceptable in some areas.

GP magazine Pulse claimed last week that there had been 22 serious incidents linked to NHS 111, including two deaths.

"If you want to recognise the role that all health professionals play you would refer to pharmacy and pharmacy would triage where appropriate" Ash Soni, NHS Lambeth	More on NHS 111 GPs back calls to boost NHS 111 referrals to pharmacy Meetings with DH fail to boost NHS 111 pharmacy       referrals ‘Frustrating' NHS 111 service fails to acknowledge       pharmacy MORE NEWS
	NHS England said at its board meeting last Friday (May 3) that, although the majority of the helpline's services were meeting its gold-standard performance level, NHS 111 would undergo an external review to enable it to "take forward future complex projects".

"I think the concept of a single telephone number is good, but the NHS is trying to make it something beyond what it is capable of delivering and beyond what most people want in an environment of cutbacks," said Nottingham LPC chief officer Nick Hunter, whose area was one of the first four sites to pilot NHS 111 in August 2011.

Mr Hunter told C+D that the algorithms that advisers use when they answer calls to refer patients to the relevant service lacked clinical interpretation and were referring patients higher up the medical ladder, for example to a hospital, than was necessary.

He added that pharmacists needed to talk to the companies providing the service around the country to solve the problems between themselves because there would be "no magic fix" from the government.   

Croydon LPC secretary Andrew McCoig agreed that the algorithms needed a re-think, he described the helpline as a "disaster" with an insignificant number of referrals to pharmacy.

And NHS Lambeth clinical lead Ash Soni, who sits on the NHS 111 clinical governance group in south-east London, said he was trying to set up a meeting with the national government team running the service to discuss how pharmacy could be better engaged in care pathways.

"What [the government] failed to do is recognise the potential to utilise the bit of the market that already exists, like community pharmacy," he said. "If you want to recognise the role that all health professionals play you would refer to pharmacy and pharmacy would triage where appropriate."

A freedom-of-information request by C+D revealed in February that pharmacy leaders met with the Department of Health seven times between August 2011 and December 2012 to try to boost patient referrals to community pharmacy.

But referrals to pharmacy and dental services showed minimal increase since the first meeting, having risen from 2 per cent of calls in August 2011 to just 3 per cent in December 2012, according to government figures.

This week, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, PSNC and Pharmacy Voice told C+D that they were continuing to make the case for pharmacy to be more effectively involved and have an "appropriate role" within the service.

NHS England said its board had agreed to proposals to set up an external review of NHS 111 but did not specify when it would be published.

What sort of patient inquiries could NHS 111 refer to pharmacy? Comment below or email us at [email protected] You can also find C+D on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook