Investing in community pharmacy could improve access to care, pharmacy bodies have said, as the UK ranks second-to-last for easy access to evening and weekend care, in a survey of 10 countries conducted by the Commonwealth Fund.

In the 2023 survey, 16% of UK participants said they found it ‘very’ or ‘somewhat easy’ to get medical care during the evening, on weekends or on holidays without going to A&E. This was the second lowest proportion among the 10 countries surveyed, after Sweden (10%).

UK respondents also reported difficulties getting a same-day answer for a medical problem.

Dr Leyla Hannbeck, chief executive of the Independent Pharmacies Association (IPA), said that the Pharmacy First scheme in England 'has all the potential to change this situation virtually immediately'.

But she added that in order to be successful, it must be backed by 'joined up NHS IT', which she said was 'always late and inadequate' and  'national media advertising by NHSE to make patients aware'.

Additionally, 'all pharmacies need urgent adequate funding so they can firstly survive and then in the context of this report extend their opening hours recruit and train staff,' Dr Hannbeck said.

Paul Rees, chief executive of the National Pharmacy Association (NPA), noted that due to ongoing community pharmacy funding cuts, 'around two-thirds have had to cut their opening hours in the last ten years, resulting in less being open on weekends and late into the evening'.

'The way to address this issue is to increase investment levels for community pharmacy, which will allow for the reversal of cuts to opening hours and improve access to pharmacy services,' he said.

Janet Morrison, chief executive of Community Pharmacy England (CPE), said the survey's findings 'demonstrate the value of having an accessible community pharmacy network supporting people to live well with the medicines they are taking and providing clinical care for patients'.

Cost of prescriptions in England 'a cause for concern'

The Commonwealth Fund survey also noted discrepancies between access to prescriptions across the UK nations.

While people in the UK reported below average cost-related barriers for prescription medicines, the percentage of respondents who had reported not collecting a prescription due to cost had increased from 2% in 2016 to 8% in 2023.

And a report by the Health Foundation on the survey noted that respondents in England were significantly more likely to skip collecting a prescription because of cost (8%) compared with those in Wales (1%) and Scotland (2%), where there is no prescription charge.

Tase Oputu, England board chair for the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS), described these results as 'a cause for concern', saying that they 'underline the continued injustice of prescription charges for patients in England'.

'Nobody should face a financial barrier to accessing the medicines they need. Prescription charges are an unfair tax on health and should be abolished. It is a worry for patients, a distraction for health professionals and drives inequality across the UK,' they added.

The survey of 3,361 people in the UK also found that 69% of those who took at least two prescription medications reported that their medicines had been reviewed in the last 12 months by any health care professional, ranking the UK around the middle of the ten countries surveyed.

And 77% of respondents said all prescribed medications are reviewed before a patient leaves hospital.

Pharmacy bodies have recently highlighted funding, workforce and medicine supply concerns to an independent review intended to 'diagnose' the challenges facing the NHS.