Expanding the role of community pharmacists

Pharmacists' roles are continually evolving to include providing direct care to patients as members of a multidisciplinary team. They play a key role in medicines optimisation, helping to reduce medication errors and have been well recognised for the ensuring safe and effective supply of medicines to patients (Baqir et al, 2015).

As part of this role expansion, pharmacies in England can now register their interest in providing the new Community Pharmacist Consultation Service. This will allow pharmacists to receive referrals from 111 for urgent medicines and minor illnesses. This is a great step forward in alleviating some of the pressure on A&E services and GP surgeries.

Furthermore, NHS England has announced that more pharmacies in England will offer free ECGs and blood pressure and cholesterol checks. The NHS is also in talks with the MHRA about how they can provide statins over-the-counter instead of by prescription. However, the Royal College of GPs have concerns about making statins more easily accessible due to the risks of over-diagnosis and over-treatment. These plans are all part of a programme to help the NHS deliver its commitment to prevent 100 000 heart attacks and strokes over the next 10 years (NHS, 2019) and will be funded as part of a £13billion 5-year contract for community pharmacies (BBC, 2019).