3,000 Pharmacy First appointments carried out in first 3 days
Pharmacy press
Earlier this week Health Minister Lord Markham CBE was speaking to Parliament about Pharmacy First, and stated that “in the first three days we have had about 3,000 consultations”.
We were asked to comment on this figure.
Our Chief Executive Janet Morrison said:
“Pharmacy First has got off to a fantastic start, with thousands of consultations taking place in the first few days of the service. This is a clear sign of support from the huge number of people who know the best route into healthcare is often to visit their pharmacy first, even before the NHS PR campaign has begun.
The new service has been a huge undertaking for the sector, and our thanks go to all the community pharmacy teams who worked extremely hard to prepare for the launch. We’ll be making sure that their incredible efforts don’t go unnoticed in our conversations with MPs and policymakers, as well as during the upcoming CPCF negotiations.”
Background
We, along with NHS and Government, were not expecting pharmacies to be inundated with patients initially: changing public behaviour takes time and effort, and a slow and steady transition period was always likely. However, this is a big step for community pharmacy and we know the hard work that has gone into reaching this stage across the entire sector.
