Shortly after NHS England (NHSE) yesterday confirmed the five new conditions that will be added to Pharmacy First from autumn, Prime Minister Andy Burnham shared a video announcing the changes to social media.
Seen over one million times across Instagram and TikTok, Burnham’s video tells viewers the five new prescribing-only clinical pathways are “another one of our everyday fixes to make your life better and to bring back hope”.
Read more: ‘A better Britain’: PM hails five new Pharmacy First conditions
He said “we’ve all been there” trying to get a GP appointment and ending up “spending half the day on hold”.
But expanding Pharmacy First means “no appointment, no long wait”, he added, and patients can “just walk in here and get the help [they] need close to home”.
Burnham said he knows “there’s more to do to get our NHS where we need it to be”, but the changes will “make it easier to see a GP for those who really need it”.
“Realistic” messaging needed
But some TikTok commenters raised concerns about the announcement.
User @KimberleyR said she loves the idea, but stressed that pharmacies are “severely underfunded” and already expected to do so much.
“Pharmacy First is an amazing idea to relieve pressure off GPs, thus resulting in less inappropriate walk-ins to A&E and UTCs, but I worry this will be another brick on top of the already broken back of community pharmacies,” she said.
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And community pharmacist @abunotabi said she is “genuinely happy to see pharmacy being recognised and trusted to provide more clinical care”, but cautioned Burnham on his choice of words.
“Messaging such as ‘no appointments, no long waits, just walk in’ needs to be used carefully,” she said. “Expanding our role is welcome, but capacity and workforce need to expand with it.”
She added that patients may turn up to be seen immediately, but “when we have to safely manage demand by asking someone to return later, it can feel as though the pharmacy has failed to deliver what they were promised”.
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“Sustainable expansion needs investment, staffing and realistic public messaging alongside it… also don’t forget there are exclusions from these services.”
After yesterday’s announcement, Community Pharmacy England chief executive Janet Morrison welcomed plans to “further develop the well-received Pharmacy First service” and said it will “make better use of pharmacists’ expertise”.
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National Pharmacy Association chief executive Henry Gregg said the body wants to “see the government turbo charge the role of pharmacies, including rolling out more prescribing services to patients on the NHS”.
But Company Chemists’ Association chief executive Malcolm Harrison warned that “success will depend on implementation at scale” and that the “funding identified is likely insufficient for the wider adoption needed for change”.
