Health secretary Jeremy Hunt has described pharmacy as a "massively untapped resource" that needs access to patient records in order to relieve pressures on the NHS.

Granting pharmacists access to records was one way to encourage the public to visit pharmacies instead of GPs or A&E services, Mr Hunt said in response to questions at the Health+Care conference in London last Thursday (June 26).

Mr Hunt admitted he "forgot" to refer to the sector in his speech on commissioning, when challenged by National Pharmacy Association (NPA) chief executive Mike Holden afterwards. But the health secretary insisted that pharmacy would be an important part of the NHS's "electronic health revolution".

"If pharmacists could see – with permission – people's prescription history [and] medication record, then a lot of people would go to their pharmacists and get a much better service," Mr Hunt told the conference.

"[Pharmacy] is a massively untapped resource and we are very much planning to include pharmacists in the use of electronic health records," he added.

Mr Holden said the health secretary could not go on ignoring the sector and that he hoped the incident would put pharmacy in the forefront of the minister's mind.

"The proof of the pudding will be [NHS England's] primary care strategy. The benchmark that I'm looking for is if pharmacy is embedded in primary care solutions," he told C+D.

In January, Mr Hunt pledged to give pharmacists priority access to patient records to unlock their "tremendous potential" in public health and disease prevention.

Last year, C+D revealed that Mr Hunt held no official meetings with pharmacy representatives in his first six months in office, despite meeting with GPs.

	Do you see yourself as a 'massively untapped resource' that could ease pressure on the NHS or are you busy enough without taking on more responsibility?