Pharmacists are dealing with patient need in 'a safe and appropriate way' under Pharmacy First, a leading GP has said.

Speaking about Pharmacy First at the NHS England (NHSE) board meeting last week, non-executive director Professor Dame Helen Stokes-Lampard said: 'We have so much unmet need in general practice is that what's happened is that you've taken a bit of unmet need and dealt with it in a safe and appropriate way.'

Noting the scale of demand on GP practices, she said she hoped this would allow 'those with slightly more complex issues to get to the front of the queue' for GP access.

Also during the meeting, Dr Emily Lawson, NHSE chief operating officer, highlighted the accessibility of community pharmacy as 'one of the benefits' of Pharmacy First.

She said any lack of access to the service in England was not correlated with areas of particular need, but was 'quite spread out'.

'One of the benefits of Pharmacy First is that pharmacy disobeys the access to care rules, and tend to be in areas which are underserved by GPs generally - there is a higher concentration in areas which are underserved,' she said.

Data was not yet available to demonstrate the impact of the service on GP demand, she said.

But she suggested the impact of the service might enable GPs 'to absorb the increased pressure and increased need for access year on year, rather than to actually create additional capacity'.

Community Pharmacy England (CPE) has previously revealed that 96.5% of pharmacies have signed up to deliver Pharmacy First in England.