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The British Medical Association (BMA) conference of local medical committees (LMCs), attended by GPs in England, has passed a motion calling for an end to community pharmacy blood pressure checks “with immediate effect”.
The motion, proposed by Devon LMC, described “wastefulness” in paying a seventh of a practice’s general medical services (GMS) fee per patient for a blood pressure check, which it said “generates more work for the practice”.
It called for the service to be terminated immediately and the money to be put into pharmacy dispensing fees.
In a statement from Devon LMC shared with The Pharmaceutical Journal following the vote, a spokesperson said the LMC “strongly believed” colleagues in community pharmacy were being “unfairly expected to chase funding from schemes such as blood pressure checks and Pharmacy First due to underfunding of their core national contract”.
“We feel that this funding should be redirected into their core contract so that it is safeguarded and any additional services should be truly additional,” they continued.
“Well-funded robust community pharmacies are key to the health of our patients, and we are sorry to see their important place in our communities being undermined by poor commissioning nationally.”
However, Nick Kaye, chair of the National Pharmacy Association, said: “It benefits no-one, least of all patients, for one set of healthcare professionals to talk down the services provided by another.
“Investment is needed across the system, including both general practice and community pharmacies, working together to give the best possible care,” he added.
“It would be terribly shortsighted to row back on preventative services, such as hypertension case finding, which will be cost-saving as well as life-saving in the long term.
“The NHS will only meet the growing needs and expectations of our ageing population if it makes the most of capacity and skills across the whole system.
The motion was debated at the 2024 Annual Conference of England LMC Representatives, which was held in London on 22 November 2024. The motion will “guide” the policy of the BMA’s General Practitioners Committee (GPC), the body that negotiates the GP contract with government.
Commenting on the vote, Shaba Nabi, prescribing and dispensing policy lead for the BMA’s GPC in England, said: “Community pharmacies have the potential to reduce general practice workloads, shorten patient waiting times and enhance primary care effectiveness.
“However, this can only be achieved if general practice and community pharmacies work in a joined-up way.”
Nabi added that the GPC meets regularly with Community Pharmacy England “to strengthen collaboration, but NHS England must start working collaboratively with us too”.
“This motion echoes BMA’s concerns about the challenges facing dispensing practices, which the Association [BMA] intends to address in forthcoming government negotiations,” she said.
NHS England launched the community pharmacy blood pressure check service in October 2021, enabling community pharmacists to offer checks to people aged over 40 years without a diagnosis of hypertension, and those younger than 40 years requesting a check due to a family history of hypertension.
Under the service, GP practices can refer patients to community pharmacies for either clinic readings or ambulatory measurements. Test results are then shared with the patient’s GP.
