The Pharmacists Voice has written to British Medical Association (BMA) leadership expressing “grave concern” over a motion put forward by GP leaders demanding that pharmacy blood pressure checks “be terminated with immediate effect”.
The group, also known as the Pharmacist Association UK, called on the BMA to “reject these motions and instead advocate a greater collaboration between community pharmacy and general practice”.
Read more: GPs to vote on ‘immediate’ end to pharmacy blood pressure checks
The motion will be voted on at the BMA’s annual GP conference of local medical committees (LMCs) in England tomorrow (November 22) – if successful, it will become official BMA policy.
The Pharmacists Voice letter sent this week (November 19) and shared with C+D said that the potential success of this motion “raises serious questions about its impact on patient care and public health”.
Read more: BMA’s top GP warns budget will ‘break’ pharmacies – but less than GPs
The group also added that it was “deeply concerned” about suggestions that “LMCs wish to terminate the NHS Pharmacy First service”.
It stressed that “allegations that pharmacists prescribe antibiotics without proper patient assessment are unfounded”.
And it said that the service addresses “gaps in access to GP appointments, preventing avoidable complications and ensuring patients receive the care they need”.
“Short-sighted”
“Dismissing or undermining” pharmacists’ “vital contributions only serves to weaken NHS primary care at a time when collaborative solutions are needed most”, it said.
“We urge LMCs and the BMA to engage constructively with the local health authorities to better understand the value and operation of these services,” it added.
“Proposals to dismantle these initiatives are not only short-sighted but also in direct conflict with NHS policy priorities emphasising preventative medicine and early intervention, as supported by [health secretary] Wes Streeting,” it said.
Read more: Pharmacies losing £115m a year over ‘informal GP referrals
The letter, written by the Pharmacists Voice founder and director Yvonne Grant-Martin, described hypertension as a “silent killer” and stressed that ending the pharmacy NHS blood pressure checking service “due to its impact on GP workloads” would be fatal.
It would “undermine timely diagnoses, delay critical interventions and result in increased morbidity and mortality”, it said.
“The importance of these preventative healthcare measures cannot be overstated” as community pharmacies are “among the most accessible healthcare providers”, it added.
“NHS-led review”
The letter acknowledged the “workload challenges facing GPs” but stressed that “removing life-saving services is not the solution”.
Instead, it called for an “NHS-led review” of both the pharmacy blood pressure check and Pharmacy First services to “identify improvements that benefit all stakeholders”.
It also recommended that the BMA “advocate for additional funding” to ensure these services “are supported without overwhelming existing systems” and work with IT providers to “streamline processes and reduce the administrative burden on GPs”.
Read more: GPs need to ‘feel confident’ about Pharmacy First referrals, says BMA
“Together, we can continue to improve patient outcomes and strengthen NHS primary care for the benefit of all,” it said.
The BMA declined to comment on the letter ahead of the motion being debated at the GP conference.
The conference will have a debate dedicated to “community pharmacy” and other LMCs have also submitted motions to the BMA for consideration – but there is no guarantee these issues will be discussed.
Read more: BMA: GPs not ‘reluctant’ to engage but Pharmacy First rolled out ‘too quickly’
LMCs also demanded an end to “the increasing tendency of NHS England (NHSE) to pit general practice and community pharmacy against each other in zero-sum games for scant funding”.
And they demanded that “antibiotic prescribing rights be removed from community pharmacy and the money put into pharmacy dispensing fees”.