There are no plans to provide a Pharmacy First appointments service through the NHS App because ‘Pharmacy First was not designed to replicate the GP appointment system’, health minister Stephen Kinnock has confirmed in a letter, seen by The Pharmacist.
Mr Kinnock said that Pharmacy First referrals come from GPs, NHS 111, or patients can refer themselves, in a letter to Conservative MP for Braintree, James Cleverly, where he addressed the concerns of Baba Akomolafe, superintendent pharmacist and director of Christchurch Health Centre, Braintree, Essex.
‘Currently, the only patient referrals sent directly to pharmacies through the NHS App are for selected vaccination programmes. For pharmacy referrals to be included in the NHS App, there would need to be a new development and implementation process,’ Mr Kinnock wrote.
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Mr Akomolafe, questioned this after reading the letter to delegates at the Sigma UK Conference, on Sunday at Marriott Hotel, Heathrow, saying, ‘We are an afterthought; again. Integration requires collaboration.
‘The future is digital so how can we be integrating into the future NHS if we are digitally excluded from the NHS App? It doesn’t make sense.’
Baba Akomolafe presenting at the Sigma UK Conference / Provided by Emily Warner
He urged pharmacists to think outside the box and come up with their own solutions instead of waiting for health policymakers.
‘We need to build our own digital front door, not just for our business but for community pharmacy as a whole. If the government won’t build it, why don’t we come together and build it [ourselves],’ he added. ‘No one’s coming to save us.’
In a video shared on Mr Akomolafe’s LinkedIn, he calls for a referral management platform for Pharmacy First that is accessible via the NHS App.
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‘Pharmacy First referrals are already a burden to GPs. We need to unite and create our own platform. Otherwise, we will remain digitally excluded in the NHS,’ he said.
Pharmacy leaders recently issued a united defence of the Pharmacy First service after what they described as ‘sneering’ remarks from some GP representatives about pharmacists’ clinical skills.
In a joint letter published in The Times, the heads of five national pharmacy organisations condemned comments made in a letter circulated by regional representatives of the British Medical Association (BMA), which advised GPs not to refer patients to Pharmacy First.
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The BMA later confirmed that the communication was sent in error and did not reflect the union’s position. It issued a statement, reminding GPs to ‘signpost patients to their local community pharmacy’ where appropriate.
DHSC has been approached for comment.
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