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Pharmacies are unable to update records for four in ten patients in England after a Pharmacy First consultation, blood pressure check or contraception supply, an exclusive analysis by The Pharmaceutical Journal has revealed.
The analysis of IT provider CegedimRx update record data between October 2024 and September 2025 found that around 70–75% of updates sent to GP practices by pharmacies using CegedimRx were rejected by the system, which suggests that the practice had not turned on the functionality.
CegedimRx told The Pharmaceutical Journal that although GP practices were told to turn on the update record functionality from 1 October 2025, just two-thirds (59%) of GP practices in England appear to have done so.
The proportion of rejected updates decreased to 66% in September 2025, and then to 41% in October 2025, after the functionality was mandated in the updated GP contract, the analysis found.
The CegedimRX data, based on a sample of 1,000 pharmacies in England, was shared exclusively with The Pharmaceutical Journal on 31 October 2025.
CegedimRx said that the most likely reason for an ‘Update Record’ message to be rejected was the GP practice having disabled the service, although a small number of rejected referrals may be owing to a patient not being registered at the GP practice or or if there was a technical or data-related error in the message itself — for example the message size exceeding the limit.
If the ‘Update Record’ message was rejected, the information was shared via NHS Mail and would then have to be manually added to patient records, it added.
Commenting on the analysis, Amandeep Doll, director for England at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, told The Pharmaceutical Journal that the lack of updated records could pose a “risk to patient safety”.
“Pharmacies need to be able to share information about medicines directly with GP records to support safe and effective patient care, and the ‘Update Record’ functionality is a key part of making that possible. Without this, there’s a risk to patient safety if important information isn’t shared,” she said.
“It’s vital all GP systems enable this feature so pharmacists and GPs can work from the same, up-to-date information. This will help reduce errors, improve communication and deliver better outcomes for patients.”
Leyla Hannbeck, chief executive of the Independent Pharmacies Association described the figures as “deeply disappointing”.
“I sincerely hope that those who have turned off Update Record have done so in error, because to deliberately disable it would be profoundly disappointing.
“The Update Record feature enables pharmacies and GPs to work collaboratively to deliver better, safer care for patients.
She added: “Enabling the Update Record feature is a requirement of the GP contract and there must be no question of some GPs standing in the way of the joined up care every patient deserves. We are asking the officials to look into this matter promptly.”
A spokesperson for the National Pharmacy Association commented: “With the drive to bring more care into our communities, it’s imperative that colleagues in primary care collaborate closely, including sharing data to ease the burdens on GPs, improve services to patients and offer better value to the NHS.
“We encourage GPs and pharmacies to work together in the interests of everyone’s practices and, more importantly, their patients.”
Tracey Robertson, managing director at CegedimRx, said: “The NHS’ aim was to make GP Connect work hard for pharmacies and GPs without adding to their workload.
“Health information needs to live in a central place, with one standard point of access to be consistent, reliable and reduce patient risk. That’s the only way we will ever truly be able to deliver exceptional patient care.
“We need the right data, accessible and shared at the right time and the right place, reaching the right clinicians.”
CegedimRx was the first of the four main IT suppliers to roll out the functionality to pharmacies using its Pharmacy Services system in April 2024, followed by Positive Solutions’ HXConsult system in May 2024, EMIS Pinnacle in June 2024 and then Sonar.
As of July 2024, “most pharmacies” in England were able to send Update Record requests to GP surgeries, Community Pharmacy England said at the time.
However, at the same time as the functionality was being rolled out, GPs pushed back on enabling it. In June 2024, the British Medical Association recommended that GPs temporarily turn off the ‘Update Record’ feature over concerns about data ownership and GP workload.
On 28 February 2025, the new GP contract mandated that every GP practice must enable the functionality enabled from 1 October 2025.
A spokesperson for NHS England said: “GP Connect Update Record is a secure system which helps improve safety by updating people’s records quicker to prevent issues such as overprescribing.
“It reduces administrative burden for practices and improves patient care, and we will continue to work with ICBs and practices to support safe implementation.”
- This article was amended on 14 November 2025 to correct the proportion of rejected referrals in October 2025 from 34% (one-third) to 41% (four in ten), in line with the data shared by CegedimRx. The proportion of accepted referrals in October 2025 was 59%.
