00:01People in England will be able to seek treatment for more conditions at their local pharmacy without being referred back
00:06to their GP.
00:07This uplift is going to do a number of things, but one thing I'd like to highlight is this independent
00:12prescribing service.
00:14So as things stand, pharmacists find it quite challenging to be able to just prescribe directly to a patient what
00:21might be needed.
00:22And in certain conditions, things like sinusitis, ear infections or sore throat, pharmacists are clearly more than capable of diagnosing
00:33that issue and providing that independent prescription.
00:36As things stand, of course, you get a referral from the GP and you do the prescription.
00:42So that takes time anyway.
00:45These transactions, all of these transactions take time.
00:47We believe that by enabling pharmacists to do that prescribing directly, it will actually reduce the number of transactions.
00:56It will also speed up the service that the patient receives.
01:02And with the prescription being given by the pharmacist, they'll know exactly what's going on with that patient.
01:08So if that patient does need to come back and the prescription hasn't worked for some reason, they'll already be
01:15very much in the loop in terms of what that patient needs.
01:19What will be happening from September onwards is everybody that qualifies as a pharmacist will have independent prescribing baked into
01:28the curriculum that they pass, the exams that they do.
01:31So everybody that comes out of the system from September onwards will be qualified on that basis.
01:37So we're going to see from 2027 onwards, we're going to see a very, very significant ramping up of pharmacists
01:44who are qualified as independent prescribers.
01:47The $340 million will do a range of different things.
01:50It's for the medicine's margin to ensure that pharmacists are not making a loss.
01:55It's for the dispensing fee, it's for pharmacy first.
02:00So it's all in that envelope.
02:03What we are seeking to do as well is ensure that we have more investment in technology.
02:09So we're looking at in the new piece of legislation that's coming forward on the so-called NHS bill that
02:17we're going to have a clause in there, which is about creating a single patient record.
02:20That's going to hugely enhance the efficiency and productivity and that better relationship between general practice and pharmacy.
02:31And I think that that overall, when you put together that kind of technology and, of course, the amazing sort
02:37of technology we have here with the robot dispensers,
02:39we hope that ultimately pharmacies are going to be able to invest in that technology.
02:43And that's a really important part of the analogue to digital shift that is another key pillar of our 10
02:51-year plan.
02:52Ministers say the changes which come into force this autumn will ease pressure on family doctors.
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