Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the Answer of 23 November 2015 to Question 16254, if he will estimate the number of GP appointments for minor ailments which could have been treated at home or with advice from a pharmacist in (a) England, (b) each former strategic health authority area and (c) each clinical commissioning group in each year since 2006.

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

The General Practice Forward View, published on 21 April 2016, states that current investment of £31 million to pilot 470 clinical pharmacists in over 700 practices is to be supplemented by new central investment of £112 million to extend the programme by a pharmacist per 30,000 population for all practices not in the initial pilot – leading to a further 1,500 pharmacists in general practice by 2020.

Figures for each former strategic health authority and each clinical commissioning group in each year since 2006 are not held centrally.