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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Denis Campbell Health policy editor

Pharmacists accuse GPs in England of scuppering Pharmacy First scheme

A customer at a counter in a pharmacy.
Pharmacy First is PM’s flagship plan to cut the time it takes to see GPs by sending patients with seven common conditions to pharmacists for treatment. Photograph: Kirsty O’Connor/PA

GPs have been accused of scuppering Rishi Sunak’s flagship plan to cut the time it takes to see them by refusing to refer patients with minor ailments to a pharmacist instead.

Pharmacists claim many GPs in England are not sending patients to them to be treated – and that some are refusing to participate at all in the “groundbreaking” Pharmacy First scheme.

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