C+D wrote to Andrew Green, GP clinical and prescribing policy lead at the BMA, earlier this month (November 1), urging him to issue a statement calling for BMA members to collaborate with local pharmacies, and denounce the use of tactics designed to restrict patients’ freedom to choose where they receive their flu vaccination.

C+D wrote the letter in response to comments made by Dr Green earlier this year, in which he accused the national pharmacy flu service in England of “undermining good working relationships” between practices and pharmacies. He also said “many GPs” were surprised at the decision to recommission the scheme, which would “have long-term implications that reach well beyond the flu campaign”.

At the time, Numark branded the comments “appallingly negative”.

You can read C+D's letter to the BMA in full here.

In his response this week (November 27), Dr Green told C+D it was “disappointing” that C+D had “taken a number of comments I made out of context in [its] political piece on this subject”.

He also accused C+D of “failing completely to acknowledge the BMA’s consistent advocacy of a strong collaborative relationship between pharmacists and GPs”.

“We have been at the forefront of arguing for clinical pharmacists to be an integral part of the expansion of practice-based teams, and for pharmacists to work alongside GPs to enhance care in the NHS,” Dr Green said.

Flu service “requires evaluation”

Dr Green added that the BMA believes the pharmacy flu service “requires more in-depth evaluation”, in order for it to “deliver for patients”.

He did not address the tactics used by certain GP practices to deter patients from receiving a pharmacy flu jab, or acknowledge the high number of vaccinations already delivered by community pharmacies this flu season.

Find out why C+D deputy news editor Annabelle Collins wrote the letter to the BMA here.