Pharmacy First : Updating patient records

The delivery plan for recovering access to primary care set out proposals for a Pharmacy First service that will enable community pharmacies to supply some prescription-only medication, where clinically Appropriate, for 7 common conditions (sore throat, infected ears, impetigo, shingles, infected insect bites, sinusitis and uncomplicated urinary tract infections in women) without the need for a GP appointment and a prescription. This also includes the expansion of the previous Community Pharmacy Consultation Service, Hypertension Case-Finding and Oral Contraception services. 

Accessing Pharmacy First services 

The following table shows the 7 conditions pharmacists can manage across various age ranges. 

Clinical pathway  Age range 
Acute otitis media*  1 to 17 years 
Impetigo  1 year and over 
Infected insect bites  1 year and over 
Shingles  18 years and over 
Sinusitis  12 years and over 
Sore throat  5 years and over 
Uncomplicated urinary tract infections  Women 16-64 years 

* Distance selling pharmacies will not complete consultations for acute otitis media. 

As part of the NHS England » Delivery plan for recovering access to primary care: update and actions for 2024/25 there will be a further focus on growing monthly patient volumes across all three pharmacy services by March 2025 by at least 71,000 blood pressure check consultations; 25,800 oral contraception consultations; and 320,000 Pharmacy First clinical pathways consultations. A review of the ambition of this trajectory will take place in  September 2024, when public uptake of the service in the first 9 months is understood. 

Pharmacy First : Updating patient records  

As part of the commitment to roll-out a new Pharmacy First service, NHS England is funding improvements to the digital infrastructure between general practice and community pharmacy.  

From April 2024 onwards, community pharmacy IT systems will start to automatically send details of a community pharmacy consultation to the GP clinical IT system, ready for a GP to check and update the patient’s record. This will remove the current need for staff to transcribe information from emails. GP clinical IT system suppliers will enable this functionality by default. Further supplier specific information is available:  

EMIS: GP Connect Update Record  

TPP SystmOne 

Benefits for GP practices 

Pharmacy First services are easily accessible and trusted with minor and common illnesses services to patients. GP practices can signpost and refer to these services to move demand for minor and common illness support from general practice to pharmacy provision, which will help to create some much-needed extra capacity for GP practices to deal with more complex cases. 

Benefits for patients 

Pharmacy First offers patients an alternative resource for seeking support with several minor and common illnesses. It is expected that as with most specialised services, the wait times for Pharmacy First services will be shorter for patients. 

Pharmacists are highly qualified health and medical professionals who specialise in treating minor and common illnesses, they will give patients excellent care stemming from their tailored expertise. 

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