Exclusive Two-thirds of community pharmacists have been negatively impacted by GP collective action to some extent, a survey by The Pharmacist has suggested.

But just 13% of practice and primary care network (PCN) pharmacists have felt a negative effect.

This comes as our sister title Pulse reveals that 70% of GPs in England are engaging with the British Medical Association (BMA)'s collective action, with 41% limiting the number of patients appointments they see.

The BMA’s GP Committee for England launched the action at the start of August, with practices given the choice of 10 potential forms of collective actions, including limiting patient contacts to 25-a-day per GP, limiting referrals and switching off the  GP Connect Update Record functionality.

Of the 109 community pharmacists who responded to our survey in September and October this year, 66% said they had been negatively impacted by GP collective action to some extent, while 17% said they had not.

One community pharmacist said the action had resulted in 'more pressure' on the pharmacy workforce, with one respondent adding that they were 'overrun' with minor illness and independent prescribing queries 'due to the lack of availability of GP appointments'.

Community pharmacists also noted a lack of formal referrals from GP practices to pharmacies for services including Pharmacy First.

One pharmacist said that following the start of GP action, the pharmacy had received 'more walk-in requests for unfunded services', with one major practice having stopped referrals altogether, instead sending patients to the pharmacy via texts and word of mouth.

Community pharmacies also seemed to be struggling with a lack of engagement from GP practices via email and telephone, with one pharmacist saying: 'I now refer all patients back with a note explaining the problem.'

As part of collective action, some practices are refusing to engage with pathways that are unfunded under the GP contract.

Since the working to rule action began, 49% of respondents to a recent Community Pharmacy England (CPE) survey they had seen a reduction in Pharmacy First electronic referrals from GP practices.

If referral routes had been used appropriately by GPs and NHS 111, rather than patients being signposted informally to their local community pharmacy, pharmacies would have been able to claim more than £115m in funding each year, CPE has estimated.

Meanwhile, in general practices and PCNs, 13% of the 121 pharmacist respondents to our survey said they had been negatively impacted by GP action, while a majority of 64% said they had not.

One pharmacist said that their independent prescribing qualification had been delayed, while another said they had had no news on whether they would receive a pay uplift.