Village Pharmacy in Hertfordshire was England’s leading provider of Pharmacy First minor illness referral consultations in June, according to the latest dispensing data from the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) published yesterday (September 24).

The Borehamwood-based pharmacy, which C+D understands changed owners in April, provided 1,477 minor illness referral consultations in June - almost four times its May tally of 386. 

Read more: Top pharmacies suspended from Pharmacy First scheme

Village Pharmacy dispensed fewer items in June (1,183) than the number of consultations it provided and provided no consultations under the seven Pharmacy First clinical pathways, the data showed.

The top ten providers of the Pharmacy First minor illness referral consultation service together accounted for 8% of all the consultations provided in England by over 10,000 pharmacies in June.

 

The GPs’ pharmacy

 

Medicines2Home.com is the Pharmacy First minor illness referral service’s second most prolific pharmacy, achieving 1,416 consultations during June - down slightly from the 1,454 it provided in May, when it came second to Optipharm.

Medicines2Home is based in Huddersfield and describes itself as a “delivery only pharmacy founded by a partnership of local GPs”. It dispensed 11,492 items in June.

Two of Medicines2Home’s directors are also directors in a local primary care network (PCN), according to Companies House records.

Read more: GPs need to ‘feel confident’ about Pharmacy First referrals, says BMA

Third-placed Golden Cross Pharmacy, based in Rochford, completed 1,205 minor illness consultations in June, up from 1,163 in May.

Rounding out the top five was Swindon’s Clive Parade Pharmacy, which performed 1,019 consultations in June.

This is a large jump from May, when it performed just 28 consultations under the referral scheme – an almost 400-fold or more than 3,500% increase.

 

Pharmacy suspensions

 

On Monday, C+D exclusively revealed that commissioners have suspended four pharmacies from the Pharmacy First scheme, all of which were leading providers of minor illness referral consultations: Optipharm, Overton & Pickup, Meacher Higgins & Thomas, and Cavendish Pharmacy.

But the June statistics do not reflect Cavendish’s suspension. 

It provided 1,122 consultations under the minor illness referral service during the month, which placed it fourth in the service rankings.

Read more: Inside the pharmacy doing 3,000 Pharmacy First consultations a month

However, Optipharm, Overton & Pickup, and Meacher Higgins & Thomas are recorded as providing no Pharmacy First services during the month.

These three pharmacies are owned by Rafik Hammouda, the sole director and shareholder of Wembley Park Pharmacie and 7Day Chemiist.

No mention of Optipharm’s suspension was made when C+D asked Hammouda about its sector-leading Pharmacy First service in August.

When C+D approached Hammouda for comment after learning of the pharmacies’ suspension, he did not clarify when the suspension took effect.