Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to link GP records with pharmacies.
As set out in the Primary Care Recovery Plan, we are investing in significantly improving the digital infrastructure between general practice (GP) and community pharmacy. This includes streamlining referrals, providing pharmacies with additional access to relevant clinical information from the GP record, and sharing structured updates quickly and efficiently following a pharmacy consultation back into the GP patient record.
These improvements will improve the delivery and impact of existing and future services as well as reducing the administrative workload for both contractors; for example, by allowing GP patient records to be easily updated following supply of oral contraception or a blood pressure consultation in community pharmacy.