Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many pharmacists in North East Hampshire are registered with the Community Pharmacist Consultation Service; how many patients in North East Hampshire have been referred to a local pharmacist since that scheme began; and what steps he is taking to widen participation in that scheme in North East Hampshire.

In North East Hampshire, 31 out of 34 community pharmacies have committed to provide the service. As at 20 January 2020, 159 referrals for minor illness and 199 for urgent supply of medicines have been made.

We have incentivised sign-up by community pharmacies by providing an upfront payment to help them prepare for delivering this new service. Over 10,600 pharmacies are now providing this service and in the first 10 weeks over 100,000 referrals were made to community pharmacy for same-day advice. We are also currently running a mass media campaign to encourage the public to use their ‘Pharmacy First’ for advice and support on minor illness.