The Company Chemists’ Association has said its members have delivered over 90,000 Pharmacy First consultations since the service launched on January 31 and urged policymakers to fund it beyond March next year.

Insisting its data showed “patients continue to respond favourably” to the service, the CCA claimed 81,627 of those patients were eligible to receive NHS-funded care.

The CCA told Independent Community Pharmacist it was unable to provide a breakdown of how many of those 90,000 consultations had been provided by each of its members but said that number is now higher. It was unable to provide an updated figure.

However, the CCA said its analysis of the first month of Pharmacy First showed its members carried out 42,027 consultations and more than 90 per cent of eligible patients “received the care they needed without the need for further referral.”

A breakdown of the data showed there were 12,176 consultations for sore throat followed by UTI (11,788), otitis media (6,693), sinusitis (5,916), impetigo (2,770), shingles (1,552) and insect bites (1,132).

It said a medicine was supplied during 75 per cent of consultations and one in five patients were referred to the service from GP surgeries. The pharmacist concluded no medicine was required for 17 per cent of patients when only advice was provided.

The CCA also said initial data highlighted pharmacists were “acting as stewards of antibiotic use” and “supplying antibiotics only when absolutely necessary.”

“Previous concerns that Pharmacy First would drive antibiotic resistance are so far unfounded,” it said, adding patients self-referred themselves to a pharmacy for 73 per cent of all consultations.

The CCA said a fifth of all consultation referrals were from a GP surgery and six per cent of referrals were via NHS111.

“Whilst these figures should rise with time, there is an urgent need to ensure these referral routes work optimally so all that patients who need to, can access care for any of the seven conditions,” it said.

The CCA urged policymakers to help general practice to refer more patients into Pharmacy First and invest more in “high-quality and targeted public engagement campaigns to raise awareness.”

“The Pharmacy First service continues to show immense promise,” said CCA chief executive Malcolm Harrison.

“Over 90 per cent of eligible patients treated via the Pharmacy First service have received the care that they need within their local pharmacy. This shows that Pharmacy First is providing access to NHS care when and where patients need it.

“Whilst early signs are promising, we need GPs to be given targeted support to refer more patients into Pharmacy First and further high-quality and targeted engagement campaigns to raise wider public awareness.”

Harrison said community pharmacy needed “a commitment from policymakers to fund Pharmacy First beyond March 2025” and “address historic underfunding” which has hit pharmacies over the years.