Pharmacy First: Information for GPs

Introduced from 31st January 2024, the Pharmacy First service allows GPs and other settings to electronically refer patients directly to pharmacies for minor illness consultations. The service has many benefits for both patients and the wider NHS, including helping to reduce pressure on GP practices.

Expanding on work they have already been doing, pharmacists can now supply an NHS medicine, if clinically appropriate, for: sinusitis, sore throat, ear infection in children, insect bites, impetigo, shingles, and uncomplicated UTIs in women. Pharmacists will use their skills as experts in medicines and managing minor conditions to determine which medicines to give and when.

The new service is part of a wider expansion of pharmacy services to improve access to healthcare whilst simultaneously reducing pressure on other parts of the NHS. Other recently rolled-out pharmacy services include blood pressure checks for people aged 40 and over, and the initiation and ongoing supply of oral contraception.

About the service

The Pharmacy First service enables members of the public to visit pharmacies, as a first port of call, for help with a range of common minor conditions.

The service enables pharmacists to offer advice to patients and supply NHS medicines, where clinically appropriate, for:

1. Sinusitis – for children and adults aged 12 years and over;
2. Sore throat – for children and adults aged 5 years and over;
3. Earache (Acute otitis media) – for children aged 1 to 17 years;
4. Infected insect bite – for children and adults aged 1 year and over;
5. Impetigo – for children and adults aged 1 year and over;
6. Shingles – for adults aged 18 years and over; and
7. Uncomplicated urinary tract infections in women aged 16 to 64 years.

It is hoped that the service will be expanded to include more conditions in the future.

In the consultations with a pharmacist, people with symptoms suggestive of the seven conditions will be provided with advice and be supplied, where clinically necessary, with a prescription-only treatment under a Patient Group Direction (PGD) or a pharmacy only medicine.

If the pharmacy team cannot help with the condition the patient is presenting with, they will be referred to the appropriate healthcare access point, such as a GP surgery or A&E. 

In addition to this, patients can continue to be able to access emergency prescription medicines or consultations on other minor conditions where they have been electronically referred to the pharmacy by NHS 111, their GP surgery or other settings. 

The Pharmacy First service is an optional service, but over 95% of pharmacies have signed up to offer it.

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