EXCLUSIVE

NHS England funding for GP practices to employ a pharmacist is "not sufficiently attractive", the departing chairman of NHS Alliance has said.

Last month, NHS England revealed the details of the 73 pilot sites it will partially fund to employ 403 pharmacists over three years. The commissioning body will pay 60 per cent of these pharmacists’ fees for their first year, dropping to 20 per cent by the third and final year. 

GP Mike Dixon, who will be stepping down as chairman of primary care representative group NHS Alliance at the end of the year, told C+D he would have set this funding higher and removed the time limit. 

"The problem is it's not recurrent, so what happens when the subsidy runs out?" he said last month (November 11).

Although the initiative is a "step in the right direction", the "actual details need refinement", Mr Dixon said.

Include "mutual work"

NHS Alliance would like to see the scheme extended to include the "mutual work" undertaken by community pharmacists, as well as those working in GP surgeries, he added.

Relationships between pharmacists and GPs have worsened over the past 30 years, Dr Dixon said. This is partly a result of the two professions being "pitted against each other" to deliver services, which is “very unproductive”, he stressed.

NHS England originally earmarked £15m to partially fund “at least” 250 practice pharmacists, but confirmed last month that this will be increased to £31m to employ a total of 403 pharmacists across 698 practices.

In September, senior doctors told C+D that some GPs were reluctant to apply for the pilot scheme because of the time-limited funding.
 

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