Baba Akomolafe warns that moving care from hospitals to the community will increase pressure on GPs unless pharmacies are digitally integrated into the NHS primary care system

Pharmacists have the potential to expand Pharmacy First service, but significant barriers such as insufficient funding and digital exclusion of community pharmacies, must be addressed.

“Digitalizing needs to be done first,” said Baba Akomolafe, superintendent pharmacist at Christchurch Pharmacy, who sees the exclusion of community pharmacies from the NHS digital system as “an unnecessary bottleneck” in expanding services like Pharmacy First.

The government’s elective care reform plan aims to reduce waiting times by shifting services from hospitals to community settings.

However, Baba has voiced concern that it will place more pressure on GPs unless pharmacies are digitally integrated into the NHS primary care system. 

He suggested that, just as patients can communicate with their GP and book appointments via the NHS app, they should also be allowed to refer themselves to their chosen pharmacy through the app Read More….