EXCLUSIVE

More than three quarters of pharmacists have never met with a GP to discuss clinical issues, according to a C+D poll.

Seventy-eight per cent of 139 respondents to a poll, run in collaboration with Avicenna on the C+D website May 15-20, said they never attended face-to-face clinical discussions with a local GP. Twelve per cent said they held these discussions once a month, while 10 per cent said they met less frequently.

NHS Alliance chair and GP Michael Dixon said C+D’s findings were “extremely disappointing”. “There is no use finger pointing; GPs and pharmacists must work together if we are to create a true community of care”, he told C+D.

Health secretary Jeremy Hunt “could not have been more clear” that “now is the time for primary care to stand up and be counted”, Dr Dixon said. Collaboration between different healthcare professionals was “key” for the success of NHS England’s Five Year Forward strategy, he added.

Pharmacy Voice representative Gareth Jones said it was important that pharmacists and GPs spoke to each other “at a professional level” to ensure they provided “the best patient care possible”.

“We must strive to offer patients integrated care. More opportunities for collaborative working between GPs and pharmacy teams will only serve to improve outcomes,” he told C+D.

GPs never agree to meetings

Sid Dajani, a contractor and member of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s English Pharmacy Board, said he had a good relationship with local GPs over phone, but they “never” agreed to his requests for a monthly meeting.

North-East London LPC chair Hemant Patel said time pressures and differences in schedules between pharmacists and GPs meant “the opportunity to meet is limited”.  

“Pharmacists have to run busy pharmacies and often do not have a break for lunch, but doctors are only available in the afternoon after closing the surgery,” he told C+D.

Last week, NHS England told C+D it was considering Royal Pharmaceutical Society proposals to incentivise pharmacists to work in GP surgeries.

Have you managed to arrange a clinical meeting with a GP?

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