Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the number of GP appointments and A&E visits each year for self-treatable conditions which could have been treated at home or with advice from a pharmacist; and if he will make a statement.

NHS England’s Urgent and Emergency Care Review Phase 1 report (November 2013) estimated that 20% of general practitioner (GP) consultations relate to minor ailments which could largely be dealt with by self-care and support from community pharmacies.

More recently, the NHS Alliance’s report, Making Time in General Practice (October 2015), found that around a sixth of patients covered by the study could potentially have been seen by someone else in the wider primary care team, such as clinical pharmacists, practice nurses or physician assistants, or by being supported to meet their own health needs.

On 16 November 2015, the GP Workforce 10 Point Plan partners announced the pilots taking part in its new scheme to fund, recruit and employ clinical pharmacists in GP surgeries as part of efforts to promote new ways of working, improve patient access and reduce GP workload. NHS England has more than doubled funding from £15 million to £31 million for its clinical pharmacists in general practice pilot, this will be shared between the 73 successful applications which cover 698 GP practices and include 403 clinical pharmacists.

The Department does not collate data nationally showing how many people who visit accident and emergency (A&E) departments could have been treated elsewhere. As part of the implementation stage of the urgent and emergency care review, NHS England is piloting the national ED (emergency department) pharmacy initiative. The pilot will show the potential for pharmacists to work alongside A&E staff as part of a joined-up, multidisciplinary workforce, to help ensure people with urgent care needs get the right advice in the right place, first time.