Growth in the wider general practice team, including pharmacists, has been a 'positive development' against a backdrop of fewer and unevenly distributed GPs, the Darzi report, published today, suggested.

But it emphasised that additional non-GP staff should 'be supplements, rather than substitutes to GPs'.

The Darzi review was commissioned by the health and social care secretary Wes Streeting to deliver 'a raw and frank assessment of the state of the NHS'.

Its report, published today (12 September) has highlighted the need to shift spending on health and social care 'left', away from secondary care and towards community and primary care and prevention.

It suggested that while GPs were 'working harder and seeing more patients', there was 'still a struggle to meet patient demand'.

The report laid out growing demand on the NHS overall, due to an aging population, people living longer with more long-term conditions, and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

And it highlighted that 'perverse' cuts to public health spending and 'underinvestment' in community, primary and preventative care were causing more population health needs and a greater strain on hospitals and acute care settings.

He recognised that for almost two decades successive governments have promised to shift care away from hospitals and into the community, and called for ‘financial flows’ into community and primary care services to be hardwired and locked in to ensure this shift could now happen once and for all.

‘The only sustainable solution to congestion in acute hospitals, for example, is to build up the capacity, capability, infrastructure and technology base of care that is delivered in the community, including general practice, community services, and mental health services. By keeping people well for longer, they are less likely to need hospital treatment,’ he added.

However, the Darzi report noted that 'there have been positive developments in growing the wider workforce in general practice such as clinical pharmacists and occupational therapists'.

But it stressed: 'These should be supplements, rather than substitutes to GPs though and more GP time is required to coordinate multidisciplinary working. In particular, more GPs are needed in under-doctored areas.'

The number of pharmacists working in general practice has increased since the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS) was introduced in 2019, although recruitment now seems to be slowing.

The scheme provides funding towards the salaries of additional roles in PCNs such as pharmacists, social prescribers and physiotherapists.

According to the latest available figures, in July 2024 there were 5,330 pharmacists and 1,914 pharmacy technicians working within PCNs.

Lord Darzi also highlighted the accessibility of community pharmacy as ‘one of the great strengths of the health service in England’. But he said that there was a 'very real risk' that on the current trajectory of pharmacy closures, 'community pharmacy will face similar access problems to general practice, with too few resources in the places where it is needed most.'

Following the report, community pharmacy leaders called for urgent action to 'stop the rot' of pharmacy closures and to invest in the sector.

And chair of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) in England Tase Oputu said the report should cause government and NHS to reflect on how pharmacists' 'cruicial' role in 'supporting the best use of medicines across the system' could be prioritised across primary care.

'Medicines are an essential part of NHS care and, at the Government looks to develop a 10-year plan, pharmacy must be a part of the conversation,' she said.

Ms Oputu also welcomed the report highlighting the 'real opportunity for pharmacist prescribing to enhance patient care'.

'Policy discussions must now turn to how we can make the most of this potential, backed by workforce planning, prescribing budgets, and the commissioning of new services to use pharmacists’ skills,' she said.

And she called for pharmacy closures to be addressed 'so that patients can continue to access a resilient community pharmacy network'.

Ms Oputu also called for pharmacy students to be able to access financial support for clinical placements through the Learning Support Fund, 'as we look for pharmacists to play a more clinical role in the health service'.

NHS England (NHSA) has previously acknowledged that funding to support students with the costs of clinical placements is ‘inconsistently paid’, according to then health minister Andrew Stephenson.

In a letter seen by The Pharmacist in January, Mr Stephenson said NHSE was ‘working with partners to how it could introduce a single, consistent policy for funding for excess travel and accommodation costs incurred by students on placement.’