Because ministers have missed their target to recruit 6,000 new GPs in England by a wide margin, they have now produced a set of fixes designed to relieve pressure on general practice by directing people elsewhere. These changes will extend the orbit of primary care to pharmacists and even receptionists, ensuring, according to the NHS chief executive, Amanda Pritchard, that “patients won’t need to go to a GP unless they really need to see a GP”. The plan seems motivated more by a concern for cost than health outcomes. Rather than addressing the causes of this crisis, it will triage and divert patients to other parts of the system.
Not all the ideas in this plan are without merit. Making it easier for people to access their medical records is practical. In theory, giving pharmacies £645m over the course of two years to prescribe treatments for common illnesses makes sense. In practice, this proposal doesn’t account for the shrinking number of community chemists, or the sector’s staff shortages. Allowing pharmacies to prescribe antibiotics when our health depends on using them prudently could pose risks. And if pharmacies are to do more of the work of family doctors, standards should be benchmarked and inspections conducted more regularly to ensure all patients receive good quality care.
