BMA: GPs not ‘reluctant’ to engage but Pharmacy First rolled out ‘too quickly’
The Pharmacy First service is “increasing the burden” on GPs and “putting further pressure” on primary care, the doctors’ union has said.
The pharmacy sector has raised the alarm that GPs may be unwilling or need more support to refer patients into the new Pharmacy First service that launched across England earlier this year.
But the British Medical Association (BMA) has denied that GPs are reluctant to “engage with Pharmacy First”, saying that they instead have “concerns” over its rapid introduction .
Speaking to C+D yesterday (May 8), BMA England GP committee deputy chair Dr Julius Parker said “community pharmacists and GPs want to work together to ensure patients receive safe and effective care”.
But he said that “rather than a reluctance to engage with Pharmacy First”, the BMA is “aware of GPs raising concerns that this scheme is being rolled out too quickly”.
He added that GPs also have concerns about the new service “relying on inadequate IT infrastructure that is ultimately increasing the burden on our profession”.
“This is putting further pressure on a system already close to breaking point,” Dr Parker said.
He added that the BMA looks forward to engaging with the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) to “better maximise the potential of this scheme”.
“Urgent need” for GP referrals
It comes after the Company Chemists’ Association (CCA) last week said there was an “urgent need” for GPs to “refer more patients into Pharmacy First” .
According to the membership body, just a fifth of its members’ Pharmacy First consultations came from GP referrals.
CCA chief executive Malcolm Harrison said that GP surgeries needed “targeted support” to encourage them to make more referrals into the service.
Meanwhile, C+D calculated that CCA members had averaged at most 14 “eligible” consultations per pharmacy between Pharmacy First’s launch and March 3, assuming that membership is at least 3,000 pharmacies in England.
By August, a pharmacy will need to achieve at least 20 eligible Pharmacy First consultations per month to qualify for the £1,000 minimum threshold payment, rising to 30 in October.
Consultation chaos
C+D also revealed in March that GPs informally suggesting patients use Pharmacy First rather than booking them an appointment using the referral system was costing pharmacies vital consultation fees.
One pharmacy missed out on 10 referrals in one day after GPs failed to formally refer patients to the service, while an anonymous contractor told C+D that GPs had said that the three clicks needed to make an online Pharmacy First referral were “three clicks more than [they] want to do”.
At the time, pharmacy minister Andrea Leadsom said that NHS England (NHSE) had “further engaged with GP representatives during the development and launch of Pharmacy First” when questioned what steps she was “taking to help ensure GPs are trained to engage with Pharmacy First”.
And last week, C+D reported that a new Healthwatch report into the pharmacy sector found that the “ingrained” public “preference” for a doctor must change if Pharmacy First is to succeed.
Last month, data from independent multiples revealed that 20% of these pharmacies believed this month’s increase in Pharmacy First minimum thresholds will be “unachievable”, with 13% already unable to deliver enough consultations to meet current targets.
Earlier in April, the Pharmacists’ Defence Association (PDA) said that minimum activity thresholds for Pharmacy First consultations had led to “increasing pressure from...management” though comparison “league tables”.
