Patients in England will be able to get prescription drugs without seeing a GP, under a government plan to ease the pressure on overstretched general practices and improve patients’ access to care.1
By the end of this year pharmacies in the community will be able to supply prescriptions for seven common conditions: earache, sore throat, sinusitis, impetigo, shingles, infected insect bites, and uncomplicated urinary tract infections in women. The policy is backed by £645m of government investment.
In addition, more people will be able to undergo blood pressure checks and obtain oral contraception from local pharmacies, and more patients will also be able to refer themselves to certain services, such as physiotherapy and podiatry, without having to see a GP first, under the plan from the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England.
The plan also promises to end the “8 am rush” for GP …