Days after the publication of the Department of Health’s Winter Preparedness Plan, MLAs at Stormont have heard that community pharmacy consultations prevent over one million GP appointments and tens of thousands of A&E visits every year.
At a meeting with an all-party group of elected representatives, Gerard Greene, Chief Executive of Community Pharmacy Northern Ireland (CPNI), shared the high-level findings of a survey that captured the impact of everyday patient consultations which do not fall within commissioned pharmacy services. These consultations, carried out daily in local pharmacies, prevent thousands of people from seeking help through GP practices or hospital services.
Mr. Greene explained:
“The findings of the survey conducted in September 2025 show that 24,700 unfunded community pharmacy consultations requiring treatment or intervention are typically undertaken each week. That represents 1.28 million patient consultations across 507 pharmacies annually in Northern Ireland.
Of these, 136,000 would have resulted in GP out-of-hours consultations at weekends and 47,000 patients would otherwise have sought help at an Emergency Department. The remaining 1.1 million patients were given diagnosis, treatment or advice which, in the absence of a local pharmacy, would have required a GP appointment.”
Despite the scale of this contribution, CPNI says opportunities have been missed to make better use of pharmacists’ clinical expertise to help tackle winter pressures.
Mr. Greene continued:
“The 2025/26 Winter Preparedness Plan published last week recognises the role that community pharmacy teams can play in relieving winter pressures on other parts of the health and social care system.
The findings of our survey provide a striking indicator of the scale of the workload and the heavy lifting that is being done by community pharmacy teams on top of the normal health services that are provided. They play a vital role on the frontline of healthcare as trusted clinical experts, available without an appointment and within less than a five-mile radius for the majority of the population.
However, we believe that key opportunities have been missed to build on treatment programmes which are proven to take pressure off other parts of the health system.”
Mr. Greene pointed out that many additional services are commissioned under Pharmacy First in other parts of the UK, allowing pharmacists to treat conditions such as sinusitis, ear infections, impetigo, and high blood pressure, along with other common ailments.
“As things currently stand, a highly qualified pharmacist faces the incredibly frustrating scenario of assessing and diagnosing conditions, knowing the treatment required, but having to refer the patient in front of them to a GP, out-of-hours service, or Emergency Department to access that treatment. This is a missed opportunity to take additional, and we would even say unnecessary, pressure out of the system.”
The survey also highlighted the extent to which pharmacists provide urgent and unplanned care. These include delivering first aid to patients who have collapsed or been injured, identifying serious medical conditions such as stroke, heart attack, and hypoglycaemia, and responding to safeguarding and mental health crises.
Despite this clear clinical value, much of this work remains unfunded.
Mr. Greene concluded:
“Sustainable funding and further service development are urgently needed to ensure that community pharmacies can continue to deliver these essential interventions. Community pharmacies cannot simply absorb additional workload when other parts of the service come under pressure. We are seeking fair funding for the clinical expertise and the very valuable contribution made by community pharmacies to keep people well in winter, and throughout the year.”