GP Referral to Community Pharmacist Consultation Service (CPCS) to be made available across England
Written by admin on Friday 9th October 2020
GP practices across England will be able to refer patients with minor illnesses asking for a GP appointment for a same day consultation with a community pharmacist
Findings from a pilot in the Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire area saw thousands of patients using the service.
Dr James Case, GP at Concord Medical Centre, Bristol, says: “The community pharmacist consultation service is a real opportunity to help practices reduce our daily demand and manage our more complex patients, which is very valuable for us.”
The NHS CPCS service specification and toolkit will be refreshed to include GP referrals and will be published in due course.
PCNs are encouraged to implement the service as part of the Structured Medication and Medicines Optimisation Service Specification and NHS England and NHS Improvement will commission this service from pharmacies from across England from November. General practice and pharmacy teams should work together on local arrangements for referral of minor illnesses to pharmacy.
Information available so far is shared below: