pharmacists will be drafted into gp practices to help ease pressure and combat a shortage of family doctors, under plans to be unveiled today the proposals could see pharmacists stationed in surgeries to help meet the day to day needs of patients with long term conditions, including diabetes and asthma instead of seeing a gp, those patients could be given an appointment with a pharmacist they would also liaise with hospitals, community pharmacists and care homes to ensure patients received seamless care experts said the move would cut the time patients have to wait for appointments, while also addressing the chronic shortage of gps at a time when there is an oversupply of pharmacists pharmacists are to be drafted into gp practices to help ease pressure and combat a shortage of family doctors in the nhs, under new plans  many gp surgeries already work closely with pharmacists, and the proposals would see them working as part of the general team, in a similar way to practice nurses, the royal college of general practitioners (rcgp) said maureen baker, chairwoman of the rcgp, said a 'hidden army' of pharmacists could provide the solution to the pressures facing family doctors she said: 'waiting times for a gp appointment are now a national talking point   and a national cause for concern, not least amongst gps themselves 'but, even if we were to get an urgent influx of extra funding and more gps, we could not turn around the situation overnight due to the length of time it takes to train a gp 'yet we already have a 'hidden army' of highly trained pharmacists who could provide a solution 'practice based pharmacists, working as part of the clinical team, would relieve the pressure on gps and make a huge difference to patient care 'this isn't about having a pharmacy premises within a surgery, but about making full use of the pharmacist's clinical skills to help patients and the overstretched gp workforce' gp surgeries are predicted to make 370 million patient consultations this year   70 million more than five years ago an ageing population and an increase in those patients needing treatment for long term and complex conditions, including diabetes and heart disease, is, in part, the cause of the mounting pressure the rcgp said according to their research, there will be 67 million occasions when patients will have to wait a week or longer to see a gp or practice nurse this year pharmacists train for five years, one year less than a doctor and a year more than a nurse as such, the rcgp, which is being backed by the royal pharmaceutical society, has argued they are ideally placed to treat patients directly within gp practices the rcgp is calling for general practice funding to be increased to 11 per cent of the nhs budget by 2017   currently it stands at just over eight per cent furthermore, the college is calling for 8,000 more gps in england by the end of the next parliament david branford, chairman of the royal pharmaceutical society english board, said: 'general practice is the foundation of the nhs but it needs proper resourcing and support experts said the move would cut the times patients have to wait for appointments, while also addressing the chronic shortage of gps at a time when there is an oversupply of pharmacists  'having a pharmacist as part of the team can make a huge difference to both patients and clinical colleagues 'pharmacists should be working in gp practices all over the country  it's a win win situation for everyone concerned 'we must be more strategic and change the services on offer to make best use of the nhs workforce 'patients deserve access to high quality care and services wherever they live and pharmacists are central to providing this' dr chaand nagpaul, gp committee chairman at the british medical association, said:  'placing more pharmacists into gp practice teams is a move the bma has been advocating for some time 'this proposal has the potential to improve the skills mix in local gp services and raise the number of healthcare professionals on hand to provide help to patients 'this will be a welcome step forward,given that gp practices are currently under unprecedented strain from rising patient demand and falling resources 'the implementation of this programme will be key for it to work properly, there will need to be additional resources to enable enough pharmacists to be placed in gp surgeries 'a further limiting factor at present is that many gp practices are struggling because their buildings are inadequate or don't have space to expand staffing'
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pharmacists could be stationed in gp surgeries to help treat patients  those with long term conditions like asthma and diabetes could benefit  there is currently a shortage of gps but an oversupply of pharmacists  experts say the move would cut patient waiting times for appointments 