The commissioning body said it was "very concerned about the impact on patients" of leaflets produced by Kingskerswell & Ipplepen medical practice in Newton Abbot, which advised people with certain conditions to contact local specialist NHS services rather than make a GP appointment.

Patients with minor ailments or conditions such as skin rashes, threadworms and thrush would get a faster consultation and prescription if they went straight to their local pharmacy, the surgery said in the leaflet. It also advised patients with lacerations or fractures to phone their nearest minor injuries unit and adults with mental wellbeing concerns to refer themselves to the local NHS anxiety and depression service. 

NHS England national director for commissioning operations Barbara Hakin said the leaflets had been withdrawn and the commissioning body was "urgently working" with the practice to address their effect on patients. "General practice has a vital role to play as the first contact for patients, especially those with mental health problems," she said yesterday (December 3).

Practice manager Robert Hooper told C+D that the surgery was trying to promote the local pharmacy, which had received money from the Prime Minister's Challenge Fund to provide a winter minor ailments service. The surgery had received an "overwhelming tide of thank yous" from patients, who said the leaflet contained "useful information", he stressed.

"We've never refused to see anybody and are posting alternatives so people can access NHS services rapidly. We want people to get good advice about their coughs, colds and illnesses," he said.

In October, NHS England launched its six-week "Feeling under the weather" winter initiative to encourage patients aged over 60 and their carers to "nip health problems in the bud" and visit their pharmacist early. The campaign drew on the success of NHS England's "The earlier the better" winter pressures initiative earlier this year.

David Branford, chair of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society's English Pharmacy Board, said he supported the "principle of guiding patients to get treated in the most suitable NHS setting". It was important to "develop confidence" in pharmacists and other primary care providers as long as patients still knew they could go to their GP for treatment of "whatever problem they have", he told C+D.

Dr Maureen Baker, chair of the Royal College of General Pracitioners, said the leaflet provided some "very useful information for the local community" and it was important that patients were "fully aware of the array of NHS services available in the local area".

"Pharmacists are ideally placed to give advice for common ailments without having to make a GP appointment," Dr Baker said. "However, it does seem an awful lot to suggest people go to other places with such a wide range of conditions. Patients should be able to make a GP appointment when they want one."

	How should GPs promote pharmacy to their patients?