Pharmacy minister Alistair Burt has expressed support for building collaboration between pharmacists and GPs during a parliamentary debate.

The newly appointed minister said primary care provision needed to expand to reduce the pressure on hospitals, and cited pharmacy as "another support service" that should be considered in conjunction with GPs, in a parliamentary debate on Tuesday (June 2).

"I am aware of projects in which pharmacies are already connected to GP surgeries," Mr Burt told Parliament. It was unclear which projects Mr Burt was referring to, but he pledged to expand "some of the pilot work that has already been done". 

Mr Burt also pledged to engage with pharmacists who had contacted him. "If my Twitter account is anything to go by, pharmacies are very keen to promote themselves and say what they can do for patients, and we will certainly be responding," he said.

Mr Burt was responding to a question raised by Kevin Barron, Labour MP for Rother Valley and chair of the All-Party Pharmacy Group, who asked whether the pharmacy minister thought community pharmacy could help decrease the burden on GP surgeries. 

Later in the debate Sarah Wollaston, chair of the health select committee, said it was "unsustainable" to deliver primary care commitments and improve access to it without "looking further at the skill mix across the NHS". 

"We talked in health questions about the use of pharmacists. The one area of the NHS where there is not any kind of workforce shortfall is in pharmacy, and that industry has much to offer primary care," Dr Wollaston said.
 
Pharmacy Voice chief executive Rob Darracott said he was "heartened to see further votes of confidence in the sector" from Dr Wollaston and Mr Burt. "The government and the NHS can make better use of the existing infrastructure, expertise and workforce that community pharmacy currently offers," he said.

Mr Darracott added that a "joined-up approach across primary care" and a "strengthened remit to tackle big public health issues" were critical. 

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