Pharmacists should “forget about” getting more Pharmacy First referrals from GPs, Community Pharmacy London (CPL) chair Raj Matharu said on Sunday (September 28).
Matharu - who is also chief executive of Community Pharmacy South East London (CPSEL) - made the comment during a Q&A at the Avicenna conference in Heathrow, where an audience member asked how GPs were being encouraged to refer patients to the Pharmacy First service.
“Forget about the GPs, they are not going to help you,” he said.
Read more: Revealed: GP referrals to Pharmacy First down by quarter in a year
The CPL chair told delegates that he has attended “enough meetings” where GPs “moan and bitch about Pharmacy First”.
Instead, it is up to pharmacists to “make it work”, he said.
“I still walk around South East London and I don’t see a single poster that says ‘Pharmacy First services available here’ - go to the website of pharmacies and you won’t see anything mentioned,” he added.
“Should have incentivised GPs”
Day Lewis executive director and Community Pharmacy England (CPE) committee member Jay Patel, who also took part in the Q&A, said the government “should have incentivised GPs to back the Pharmacy First programme”.
“We pushed for it [but] the government [said it] didn’t want to do that,” he said.
Read more: Pharmacies must ‘promote’ PF service via national campaign
He added that if pharmacists can “find a way of working with local GPs and say, ‘Look, it’ll save you time, it’ll save me time doing it this way’”, then they can instead address this “conflict” at the “local level”.
Back in January, MPs also called for “financial incentives” to be introduced to encourage GPs to “work with pharmacies” and engage with Pharmacy First.
“A plea to all of you”
Matharu also warned pharmacists to expect “more inappropriate Pharmacy First referrals” from this month, when GP practices in England have been told they must keep online booking open throughout their working hours.
“This is a plea to all of you, you are going to see more Pharmacy First referrals…and you will receive more inappropriate Pharmacy First referrals from October onwards,” he said.
Read more: BMA and RCGP warn government not to switch-on GP Connect
“So please work with your local pharmaceutical committee (LPC) and manage them to ensure that the patient gets the right care,” he added.
It comes after data obtained by C+D revealed that referrals to the Pharmacy First service from general practice resulting in a consultation fell by 24% between May 2024 and May this year.
Read more: Pharmacy First under ‘evaluation’ as DH expects to ‘fully utilise’ funds
NHS England (NHSE) consultation data highlighted that, among other things, referral rates were around 10% to 25% lower this spring than they were last year, when the service was first launched.
And last month, CPE announced that pharmacies have been tasked with promoting the Pharmacy First service to the public as their first national campaign topic under this year’s contract.
