Roughly eighty-six per cent of Scotland’s GP practices have partial access to a level one pharmacotherapy service. In contrast, thirteen per cent have full access, while the Scottish government set a target for health boards to provide GP practices and patients with a pharmacotherapy service by April 2022.

By April 2021, all GP practises in Scotland were supposed to provide a level one pharmacotherapy service, which would include acute and repeat prescribing services and pharmacy-run medication reconciliation. However, in July 2021, the deadline was extended to April 2022.

“Roughly 86% of Scotland’s GP practices have partial access to a level 1 pharmacotherapy service.“

According to the research, the Scottish pharmacotherapy service hired approximately 1,000 pharmacy professionals between April 2018 and March 2022, including 366.4 WTE pharmacy technicians and 610 WTE pharmacists.

A spokesperson for the Scottish government said: “A key priority for the Scottish government is increasing the number of skilled healthcare professionals working in primary care. Since 2018, annual recruitment to local multidisciplinary teams has more than doubled from three hundred and five to seven hundred and ninety-three [staff]. This has increased the total number of these professionals, including pharmacists and community health nurses, to a record high of three-thousand two-hundred and twenty in primary care. Having an increase in staff numbers will allow us to get on with the work of NHS recovery from the [COVID-19] pandemic and we remain committed to this direction of travel. A Pharmacy Implementation Delivery Group has been established to drive this work forward and support delivery of pharmacotherapy services.”

Chair of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) Primary Care Pharmacy Expert Advisory Group, Anne Thomson, stated: “I am proud of what has been achieved in such a short space of time, despite the added challenges of a pandemic, and look forward to continuing to evolve how pharmacy supports quality and sustainable care provision within the multidisciplinary team in this setting.”