Clear Law is backing calls by leading health professionals for pharmacists to step in and help treat patients at GP practices across England.
The move would ‘help ease GP pressure’ and see pharmacists helping patients directly with common ailments, reports the BBC.
They would provide additional health advice to patients and prescribe medication directly once they had completed the sufficient training.
Fiona Tinsley, Clinical Negligence Solicitor at Clear Law said: “Provided pharmacists are thoroughly trained to provide this service, we fully support these proposals which will go some way in relieving the current strain on GPs in England.”
A recent investigation by the BBC found that there is a chronic shortage of GPs across the UK at the present. A survey questioning more than 1,000 GPs revealed that more than half of the UK’s doctors were planning to retire or leave their post before hitting 60, with junior doctors also side-stepping what they viewed as an ‘unglamorous’ career.
These new plans, put forward by the Royal College of General Practice (RCGP) and Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) could see patients who call up their surgery offered an appointment with a general practitioner, practice nurse or pharmacist. It is thought that those with long-term conditions will benefit most from the new plans, with pharmacists able to help with things like illness symptoms, medication side-effects and repeat prescriptions.
Dr Maureen Baker, chairwoman of the RCGP, said: “Even if we were to get an urgent influx of extra funding and more GPs, we could not turn around the situation overnight due to the length of time it takes to train a GP.
“Yet we already have a ‘hidden army’ of highly-trained pharmacists who could provide a solution.
“This isn’t about having a pharmacy premises within a surgery, but about making full use of the pharmacist’s clinical skills to help patients and the over-stretched GP workforce.”
Katherine Murphy, speaking on behalf of the Patients Association, said: “Any action that can, at the very least, ease the problem is to be welcomed and this plan for doctors and pharmacists to work together is an innovative step in the right direction.