Pharmacy First: Local Implementation
Analysis shows that patient engagement with Pharmacy First is quickly resembling a ‘patchwork quilt’ across the country with wide variance across ICSs. The highest-performing ICS benefitted from seven times more Pharmacy First consultations than the lowest performing. If every ICS had as many consultations as the highest-performing ICS, there would have been a potential additional 600,000 Pharmacy First consultations by community pharmacies. Meanwhile, 3 in 10 GP surgeries have referred a patient for a Pharmacy First consultation, but 69% of those referrals were from a very small minority (7%) of GP surgeries.