Pharmacies provide nearly 70 million 'unfunded' consultations annually

Community pharmacies in England help save around 38 million GP appointments annually, alleviating pressure on general practice

Pharmacies are valuable healthcare assets, meeting increasing public demand. However, a substantial portion of their capacity is consumed by unfunded work.

According to Community Pharmacy England's (CPE) 2024 Pharmacy Advice Audit, community pharmacies conduct over 1.3 million unfunded consultations each week, equating to 69 million annually.

The average pharmacy completes around 22 of these consultations daily, each taking approximately 5.6 minutes of staff time —adding up to over two hours daily.

This represents nearly 50 per cent more consultations than in 2020 and a 78 per cent increase in time spent on unfunded healthcare advice since the 2020 audit.

The audit, which surveyed over a third (3,916) of community pharmacies in England earlier this year, also highlights that pharmacies handle nearly 150,000 informal referrals from GPs and NHS 111 each week.

All these referrals could have been routed through the Pharmacy First service, which would have potentially secured over £115 million in funding for the sector, the CPE noted.

It is estimated that pharmacy teams help save around 38 million GP appointments annually, with 4.3 million patients turning to community pharmacies when unable to access other healthcare options.

CPE chief executive Janet Morrison said: “The results of the 2024 Pharmacy Advice Audit show once again just much the nation and the wider NHS rely on community pharmacies."

However, she cautioned that community pharmacies are in a "desperate state" and cannot keep giving this advice for free, highlighting the urgent need for a funding uplift to prevent further closures.   

"The results of the Advice Audit show very clearly how much is at stake if that does not happen: millions of people will not be able to access healthcare advice and will be forced to either let their health deteriorate or turn to General Practice and hospitals," she added.

CPE is committed to ensuring that all the healthcare advisory work the sector is doing is “appropriately recognised and remunerated by government and the NHS.”

The committee stated that they have already begun using the audit data in conversations with both entities, and it will inform the 2024/25 Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF) negotiations and discussions around the future of Pharmacy First.

The audit further reveals that each week, pharmacies assist nearly 922,000 patients (70 per cent) seeking clinical advice about symptoms, and an additional 20 per cent who need guidance on existing medical conditions.

Community pharmacists successfully provide expert advice to 85 per cent of these patients, though approximately 52,000 are identified each week as needing more urgent care and referred to other healthcare providers.

According to the audit findings, over half a million consultations carried out by community pharmacies a week are for clinical advice alone, with no medication sale involved, thus preventing over 115 appointments per GP practice in England each week.