Community pharmacists in Cornwall have delivered over 8,000 minor ailment consultations in the last 12 months, saving over 6,000 GP appointments. 

The walk-in service has been deemed locally as a great success – 80 per cent of people who used it had their symptoms successfully treated on-site, a post-consultation survey found. Moreover, 100 per cent of those questioned found the service easy to use and were happy with the consultation.

Nick Kaye, chief executive of Cornwall and Isles of Scilly LPC, said: “Community pharmacies are already a trusted place for patients to receive clinical advice and intervention. This service joins up the consultation by automatically placing full details in the patients' notes at their GP practice.

This allows for fully joined-up care, he added, relieving pressure on GPs and “bringing much needed funding into pharmacies after seven years of static funding which is forcing [pharmacies] doors to close”.

Mr Kaye was invited by Steve Double, MP for St Austell and Newquay, to meet health minister Neil O’Brien MP and senior civil servants to discuss the service with a view to rolling it out nationally.