Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress his Department has made towards meeting the target of having over 1,300 clinical pharmacists working in GP surgeries by March 2019; and if he will make a statement.

The General Practitioner (GP) Forward View, published in 2016, set out plans to recruit an additional 1,500 clinical pharmacists into general practice by 2020/21.

Following a recent consultation, several changes have been made to the data processing and methodology for general practice workforce data back to September 2015. Figures produced under the old and new methodologies are not comparable and revised figures have so far been published for December 2017, September 2018 and December 2018 only. The remainder of the September 2015 to December 2018 data is planned for publication on 25 April 2019 and cannot be disseminated before this date. The number of pharmacists working in general practice in March 2019 will be published in May 2019.

The recently published five-year general practitioner (General Medical Services) contract included funding for the new Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme, in Primary Care Networks (PCNs). PCNs will be guaranteed funding for up to an estimated 20,000 additional staff by 2023/24. This funds new roles for which there is both credible supply and demand. The scheme will meet a recurrent 70% of the costs of additional clinical pharmacists, physician associates, first contact physiotherapists, and first contact community paramedics; and 100% of the costs of additional social prescribing link workers. The scope of the scheme will extend gradually, reflecting available supply and funding. Funding will be available from July 2019 for clinical pharmacists through the scheme