More patients visiting pharmacy first could save over 15 million GP appointments each year, a study by NHS Alliance and the Primary Care Foundation has found.

The report found that a significant amount of GP time could be freed up if family doctors did not have to spend time rearranging hospital appointments and chasing up test results from local hospitals. This accounted for 4.5% of appointments in the study, amounting to an estimated 15 million appointments if repeated across England.

The report estimated one in six of the patients in the study could potentially have been seen by someone else in the wider primary care team, such as a community pharmacist, practice nurse or physician assistant.