EXCLUSIVE

Pharmacy leaders have hit back at GP attempts to curb "complex and confusing" pharmacy flu vaccination schemes.

Pharmacists reacted angrily to claims from Welsh BMA representative Charlotte Jones on Friday (August 29) that offering vaccinations through pharmacies "quite clearly" did not improve uptake.

They also denounced news that local medical committees (LMCs) in Shropshire and Staffordshire had forced NHS England to delay the start of a pharmacy flu vaccination scheme until November.

Dr Jones, chair of the BMA General Practitioners' Committee in Wales, said claiming that pharmacies increased patient choice was a "limited, rose-tinted view". Surgeries often extended their hours to provide vaccines, she told C+D.

"Have [pharmacists] delivered vaccines to patients who wouldn't have otherwise have had it from their GP? The answer to that is quite clearly no, so therefore what added value are [pharmacists] bringing?" she asked. "They're certainly bringing added costs."

Dr Jones said paying pharmacists the same as GPs for vaccinations was "unfair", because GPs did more administrative work and chased hard-to-reach patients. The fact that pharmacists could offer private vaccinations meant it was "not a level playing field" between the two professions, and offering it in both settings could lead to elderly or confused patients being vaccinated twice, she added.

Pharmacy Voice chief executive Rob Darracott rubbished Dr Jones' claims. "Increasingly, the public are choosing community pharmacy for access and convenience reasons and actually what [GPs] are doing here is denying people a choice," he said. The evidence suggested that pharmacies increased uptake in groups that GPs had historically struggled with, including the under 65s and pregnant women, Mr Darracott said.

Success in London

Chief executive of Pharmacy London Rehka Shah confirmed this was the case in London LPC's flu vaccination service last year, which delivered 76,000 vaccinations altogether.

"Thirty eight per cent [of vaccines] were to the under 65s. Pregnant ladies have always been difficult to target in London. Last year, just under 25 per cent of all pregnant women who decided to get vaccinated chose to do it through community pharmacies. Our reach into this particular group was a real achievement," she told C+D. There was not one case of a patient being vaccinated twice, Ms Shah added.

Community Pharmacy West Yorkshire chief executive Robbie Turner told C+D that Dr Jones' comments were "short-sighted" and particularly disappointing given the need for collaboration between GPs and pharmacists. He also hit out at NHS England's decision to push back the pharmacy flu vaccination programme in Shropshire and Staffordshire.

Chief officer of South Staffordshire LPC Peter Prokopa told C+D on Wednesday (August 25) that the programme's start date had been pushed back two months to November 1 after LMCs raised concerns over the scheme to the commissioning body's area team.

NHS England told C+D that it was in "ongoing discussions" with GP practices, LMCs and LPCs in Shropshire and Staffordshire about the flu vaccination service, and that the pharmacy scheme would be available "by the end of this year".

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