Ask any community pharmacist about the benefits of collaborating with GP practices and most would agree there are significant opportunities to improve patient care.

The economic constraints to meet our contractual obligations and maximise additional income streams for both professions means patient-centric partnerships are the only way to secure a sustainable future for primary care.

However, community pharmacists may have misconceptions about general practice, and viceversa. These have created barriers to engagement and have resulted in missed opportunities. 

The NHS Five Year Forward View aims to improve access for patient appointments, at a time when GP recruitment is at crisis level to improve interdisciplinary working and minimise hospital admission and re-admission rates.

The recruitment of practice pharmacists continues to be high on the agenda.

These plans provide opportunities for community pharmacies to prove their worth to general practice, at a time when general practice is crying out for help. Many general practices are firefighting problems and have little time to plan ahead or look for innovative opportunities. It is no surprise, then, that they may not proactively seek help from community pharmacy: a profession they know little about, may have little trust in, and may consider as a threat or as having a hidden commercial agenda.