Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of increasing the range of conditions that can be treated under the Pharmacy First service.

Pharmacy professionals are highly skilled clinicians who are experts in the use and management of medicines. The Pharmacy First Service, alongside other services that enable quicker and more convenient access to medicines, where it is safe to do so, supports patients in realising the maximum benefit from the medicines prescribed by their general practitioners.

In considering the services that we commission, on a national basis, we carefully consider their deliverability, including whether they are deliverable in the current estate, and any necessary IT and referral processes that need to be put in place to ensure patient safety. The cost effectiveness of providing services in community pharmacy compared to providing them in other settings is also considered. All services are kept under review.

NHS England is currently running over 200 pathfinder programmes, examining different governance and delivery models to understand how prescribing services could be commissioned from community pharmacy. This will help inform the future expansion in community pharmacy services, including Pharmacy First, over the coming years.