All community pharmacies commissioned to provide the service have been/are being provided with a laptop computer loaded with an EMIS diary function. This means that surgery staff will now very easily be able to send appointments direct to community pharmacies without using a telephone.
The bookings will be made in real time identically to the bookings that are already made for the onsite GPs or practice nurse.
Pharmacies are able to block out periods of time when the service is unavailable, for example at lunch periods or when a PGD trained pharmacist is not present.
David Carter the LPC Chairman said “this new extension to the GP2P service is very welcome at this busy time of year and will facilitate appointments immeasurably. Pharmacies will be better placed to provide this much needed service to patients - taking even more pressure off GPs by providing increased numbers of interventions”