An investigation into suspected script direction by GP practices is needed, as community pharmacists remain concerned about the issue, said Salim Jetha, chief executive of Avicenna.

'We really need the GP regulator to look into this.' A survey commissioned by Avicenna, suggests that many pharmacists are concerned about the issue. 'Unless our contracts are aligned we are going to have this problem,' he said, speaking at the group's overseas conference in northern Cyprus this week. Relationships with GPs need to be improved across he board, he suggested.

The majority of pharmacists do not speak to GPs about clinical issues – although it may be that this is mostly down to timing issues and lack of opportunity, rather than it being due to individual's fault or animosity. 'We need to find a way to break this deadlock,' he said.