'Professional snobbery within the NHS' could be preventing DHSC from giving pharmacies a greater role, the chair of the Pharmacy All-Party Parliamentary Groups (APPG) has suggested.

'We have got a situation where, in Wales and Scotland, Pharmacy First exists,' said Pharmacy APPG chair Taiwo Owatemi MP at a DHSC Committee meeting yesterday (31 January).

'The PSNC submitted last year a Pharmacy First model for this country to make it more beneficial and more cost effective for patients. We still haven't heard anything.'

Addressing Health Secretary Steve Barclay, she said: 'Is there the possibility there might be professional snobbery within the NHS that pharmacies might not be able to provide services? Can the secretary of state explain what the blockers are that are preventing the department from giving pharmacies a greater role that's going to benefit patients?'

Mr Barclay commented that 'sometimes change is difficult,' but said that he shared her 'desire to deliver change' and that DHSC are actively exploring what things could be done in community pharmacies to alleviate GP pressures.

'There is a significant role for pharmacies to deliver,' he said. 'We need to look at the financing of that, but there's a clear trajectory in terms of services that can be delivered by pharmacy.'

Mr Barclay said he recognises 'pharmacy offers opportunity in terms of ease of access,' offering 'different routes for patients'.

He added that there is 'a huge opportunity' to use the NHS app for people who might originally be planning to book a GP visit, but who 'see an opportunity' if they 'find out they can get the service they need from a pharmacist much quicker through the app.'

Mr Barclay said: 'One of the issues I'm very keen to explore is what more we can do in pharmacy, not least given the pressure on GPs, and the opportunity to look at what people currently go to GPs for, where potentially there is scope to do more at the pharmacy, and we are already doing that.'

Ms Owatemi asked Mr Barclay if he felt he was fulfilling his statutory responsibility to ensure patients have access to medicines, given that 670 pharmacies in the country have shut in the last five years - 40% of which were in the most deprived areas of the country.

'We are investing more,' he said. 'We have put an extra £100 million on top of the £2.6 billion a year we commit to community pharmacy, to expand the range of clinical services,' and 'we have had over two million patients that have been referred to community pharmacy from NHS 111 as well.'

Sector leaders have called on the government to fund Pharmacy First as the first step in commissioning clinical services.