Contractor representatives, OTC manufacturers and NHS commentator Roy Lilley have called on pharmacy to promote self-care to prevent demand on the NHS "going through the roof", but cautioned that they should be paid for doing so.

They made the comments in response to an online survey that found NHS bosses see self-care as a priority for the future. Nine tenths of 839 NHS managers surveyed believe there should be a stronger emphasis on self-care and that it should be taught as part of the school curriculum.

The survey, run last month by professional network NHSmanagers.net, also found that more than three quarters of respondents thought GPs should give clear advice on when patients should practise self-care instead of coming into the surgery.

"If you're going to ask a pharmacist to do what GPs are doing, then you've got to pay them what GPs are paid" Roy Lilley, NHSmanagers.net	More on GP-pharmacist workload Pharmacists should be paid to help ‘overloaded' GPs GPs keen to offload minor ailments, but pharmacy       may be at capacity Pharmacists reject GP lead's criticism of MURs MORE NEWS
	Roy Lilley, an NHS commentator who runs NHSmanagers.net, said pharmacy could do more at a time when demand on the health service was going "through the roof". But he stressed that pharmacists would need funding for the work. "The difficulty is [pharmacists] need a return on investment and you get more money selling sun cream than giving advice on coughs and colds," he told C+D.

"If you're going to ask a pharmacist to do what GPs are doing, then you've got to pay them what GPs are paid – you can't do it on the cheap," Mr Lilley stressed.

Independent Pharmacy Federation chair Fin McCaul backed Mr Lilley's comments, arguing that pharmacists could take on addition minor ailments work from GPs but only if they were properly remunerated. The role would require an overhaul of current procedures, he said.

"Where patients are coming to buy stuff, we've got to be a bit more robust in how we deal with this, especially in light of the Which? report," Mr McCaul told C+D. "Where we have a minor ailments scheme, then that needs to be set up in a robust manner so the information is also sent back to the GPs and goes on the patient record."

The Proprietary Association of Great Britain (PAGB), which represents OTC manufacturers, said pharmacists needed to be higher up in patients' priorities. "People need to think pharmacy before GP or A&E, and pharmacists' input needs to be recognised as much as [GPs' input]," argued PAGB chief executive Sheila Kelly.

The comments were made after pharmacy leaders called for remuneration to take on GPs' work on Friday (May 31), in response to health secretary Jeremy Hunt's speech on GPs being "rushed off their feet".

A C+D poll carried out last week suggested readers were split on the issue, with 54 per cent of the 151 respondents saying they would welcome funding to take on the work. The remaining 46 per cent said they already had too much on their plates.