Pharmacy First – first email to local MP | The Pharmacists' Defence Association

The tool below is to help members write to their MP about concerns regarding the implementation of the Pharmacy First Service in England.

Please:

Enter your postcode to find your MP. Use the postcode for where you are registered to vote.
Say whether you are employed or a locum and if you live and/or work in the constituency in the first line of the email below.
Make sure everything in the email is relevant to you.
Remember to include your name and address at the bottom of your letter.
Hit send

To:

Subject:

Message

As an [employed / locum] pharmacist [living / working] in your constituency, I am writing to you about the launch of the Pharmacy First Service which is due to occur across England on 31st January 2024. I stress that I am a front-line pharmacist and not a business owner of a pharmacy.

The Pharmacy First Service (PFS) for England will encourage patients to consult with their community pharmacist for a list of common conditions.  Pharmacists will be able to offer advice to patients and supply NHS medicines where clinically appropriate to treat 7 common health conditions, for example sore throat, earache, shingles, and uncomplicated urinary tract infections in women. I believe that the Pharmacy First service is a welcome concept that will make better use of pharmacists’ clinical skills and give patients improved access to primary care.

Given the challenges of getting a GP appointment, I have no doubt that this alternative access to a healthcare professional without an appointment will be a very popular option. As a regulated healthcare professional, I want to ensure that I can provide safe and effective services to patients accessing Pharmacy First while also maintaining the other existing essential activities, such as the supply of prescription medication and flu vaccinations upon which patients depend.

However, over the last five years, funding from NHS England has been cut by the equivalent of 30% in real terms, and this has resulted in a dramatic cut to the staffing levels in most pharmacies, with levels of trained support staff being cut by more than 20%. During this period, the increase in levels of additional services delivered such as Emergency Hormonal Contraception, blood pressure checks not to mention the support of the Covid crisis at the front line has resulted in the community pharmacy workforce being brought to its knees.

The annual Safer Pharmacies Surveys ( see https://www.the-pda.org/pdas-safer-pharmacies-survey-2022) consistently highlight concerns from frontline pharmacists like me and sadly, I see first-hand the extent to which the pharmacy workforce is exposed to violence or abuse as a result of wider frustrations that the public have about the healthcare system.   I am therefore very concerned that the extra workload that will come with the new service promotional activity, as well as referrals from other parts of the NHS, will expose an already broken workforce to even more pressure. I am told that the employers have been given funding for extra staff, but I am not seeing anything that might enable me to deliver the largest change to pharmacy services in my entire career. At the same time, I am being expected to still deliver all the other services that I currently provide and ensure that I continue to keep patients safe. This change is happening in just two weeks’ time and my concern is that if it is not accompanied by any extra staffing then this will undermine the success of the scheme in meeting expectations as well as expose the pharmacy team to more anger and abuse from the public.

Perhaps the reason why we are now in this situation is that when the implementation plan for this service was agreed between NHS England and representatives of pharmacy business owners, these talks did not involve the representatives of pharmacist workforce. The organisation that represents frontline pharmacists, (the PDA) ran a survey around preparedness of pharmacists for Pharmacy First between 5-14 January 2024 and over 3,500 pharmacists replied:

- 84% either strongly agree or agree that a properly introduced and resourced Pharmacy First Service could improve patient care.
- 87% of respondents either strongly agree or agree that if the Pharmacy First Service is not introduced or resourced properly it could damage the already fragile workforce situation.
- With just a few weeks before launch only 1% of respondents said they had undertaken all the training they needed.
- 49% of respondents said that there are not sufficient staff in their pharmacy to safely provide existing services (i.e. before the Pharmacy First Service is introduced), with an additional 50% saying that they only have sufficient staff some of the time. Only 1% say that they have enough staff all the time.
- Only 5% of respondents are confident that the pharmacy where they work can deliver the Pharmacy First Service in addition to the existing workload.

During a recent Health and Social Care Committee session Mark Koziol (PDA Chairman) reiterated the chronic issue of inadequate staffing levels in community pharmacies ( See: www.the-pda.org/pda-evidence-at-health-select-committee/ )

I hope that as my constituency MP you will be keen for the new PFS to be implemented successfully for the community you represent and, as the launch of the service fast approaches, I am therefore highlighting these concerns with you and ask you to:

- Visit local pharmacies and check on preparedness for the service – please make sure you know if you are talking to an owner or to an employed or locum frontline practitioner like me.
- Seek assurances from pharmacy business owners in your constituency that the additional funding provided by NHS England will be used to provide adequate training and staffing levels to support the provision of the Pharmacy First Service.
- The issues described in this letter have been brought to the attention of the Department of Health & Social Care, please do ask them how they are planning to respond.
- Apply for or participate in any debates taking place in the House of Commons on this issue to ensure that voices like mine and the patients we care for are not forgotten.

Thank you for your time and I sincerely hope that you can help by making these representations and changes, so that we can deliver the Pharmacy First Service for the benefit of the public.

Yours sincerely

Name:

Contact details:

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Pharmacy First – first email to local MP

January 19, 2024 The PDA

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