EXCLUSIVE Pharmacists across primary care are united in wanting support for community pharmacy to be a top priority for the next government, our snapshot survey has suggested.

For pharmacists across general practice and community, support for community pharmacy ranked as a high priority issue, alongside better pay for all NHS staff.

The 100 pharmacists across general practice (including both ARRS and non-ARRS roles) and community settings who responded to our survey were asked to score a list of issues from 1 being the lowest priority to 5 being the highest priority for the next government in terms of the NHS.

Pharmacists across general practice and community settings also prioritised improving patient access to primary care, reducing the elective care backlog and improving ambulance response times.

Of the 31 community pharmacists that responded, 58% said ‘more support for community pharmacy’ should be a high priority for the next government.

The issue came a very close second to improving patient access to primary care, which was ranked as a high priority for 61% of community pharmacists answering our survey.

 

 

Meanwhile, 61% of the 44 ARRS pharmacists responding to our survey said ‘better pay for all NHS staff’ should be a high priority for the next government.

Improving ambulance response times and more support for community pharmacy came a joint close second for this group, with 55% of ARRS pharmacists saying this should be a high priority.

 

 

Some 25 non-ARRS pharmacists working in general practice also answered our survey, with 32% suggesting that support for community pharmacy should be a high priority issue.

And 44% of non-ARRS general practice pharmacists said reducing the elective care backlog, better pay for all NHS staff and more efficient discharge of patients from hospital should be high priorities.

Some 40% of this group said improving patient access to primary care and improving ambulance response times should be high priorities.

 

 

For the primary care workforce as a whole, 61% of respondents said better pay for all NHS staff should be a high priority, followed by more recruitment of GPs which was considered a high priority by 55% of respondents.

Just 25% of the total primary care respondents – which included GPs, nurses and PCN and practice managers – said more support for community pharmacy should be a high priority for the next government.

And the percentages remained similar once hospital staff respondents were included.

The results are part of our wider survey of 1,700 healthcare professionals on the State of Primary Care which will inform a report due out next month.

The survey, run in conjunction with our sister titles Healthcare Leader and Pulse PCN, was open from 29 April to 20 May 2024 and included responses from 31 community pharmacists, 25 non-ARRS practice pharmacists, and 44 ARRS pharmacists.