Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Pharmacy First scheme in reducing avoidable attendances to accident and emergency departments.

The Department does not hold data on the number of avoidable attendances to accident and emergency departments have been prevented by Pharmacy First. Pharmacy First is a complex service that links to multiple parts of the healthcare system. The service aims to offer eligible patients a complete episode of care in the pharmacy setting and to receive treatment for seven common health conditions releasing pressure on general practice appointments and the wider National Health Service. Since the service launched, there have been over 4.8 million consultations, with over 3.6 million consultations resulting in supply medicines.