A national NHS campaign will launch this month to help patients 'not to be alarmed' if they contact their GP and are booked in for an appointment with a pharmacist.

NHS England said the campaign would include ‘PR activity to generate content and consumer media coverage to increase patients’ knowledge and confidence in the primary care triage process and the wider multi-disciplinary team of clinicians that are available in general practice’

This will include educating patients on why receptionists ask patients questions about their condition when they contact their GP.

Dr Kiren Collison, interim medical director for primary care, told the webinar that the campaign will run ‘from September onwards’ and that it will ‘raise awareness around the multidisciplinary team within the practice’, including ARRS roles.

It will include a short video of children interviewing different professionals about their jobs in a general practice setting.

Dr Collison said: ‘It’s not about “see your GP”, it’s about: you could be seen by a number of different people, physios, pharmacists, paramedics.

‘The other thing is around triage and the care navigation side of things, so making people aware that if they do contact their practice they will be asked questions about their condition.

‘And that’s not about a receptionist being nosy, this is very much about triaging effectively so that patient can reach the right person or the right service.

‘The campaign is going to be really focusing on all adults but also with a focus on a younger audience and parents of children, and the reason for that is that we know they have quite a high rate of consultations and don’t always know about those access routes.

‘A short film has been filmed recently and it’s of some children interviewing professionals within a practice setting, to show people who these people are and what they do.’

She also pointed out that the video won’t cover all of the additional roles, but the most common ones will be covered, adding: ‘I think it’s really important to get the message out there that not every practice, not every PCN, will have all of these roles.

‘Some will have some, some will have others, so what this is trying to do is raise awareness that if you are booked for an appointment with a social prescriber or a pharmacist then that is to be expected and not to be alarmed.

‘We need to be clear with our public that, although we are raising awareness of these things, from day one it may not all be there and all in place – this is an evolving process where care navigation is starting up and new roles are coming in.’

NHS England also said the campaign will focus on those from Black, Asian and Eastern European backgrounds.

In July, North West London ICB launched a similar initiative to explain to patients how general practice is changing and why they may see a different clinical expert in future, depending on their need.

Later this year, NHSE will also launch the GP digital access phase of the ‘Help Us, Help You’ campaign to increase uptake of the digital route for accessing general practice services, as well as the NHS 111 phase, which will run over winter to increase the number of people with a perceived urgent care need to access 111.

During the same webinar, NHS England said that its internal analysis found that 16% of GP appointments are ‘potentially avoidable’.

A version of this article first appeared on our sister publication Pulse.