🏥 PCN Pharmacists: Reducing GP Workload and Supporting Clinical Teams
Introduction: The Pressure on General Practice
General practice is at a crossroads. Across England, GP practices are facing growing demand from an ageing population, rising levels of chronic disease, and increasing administrative complexity. At the same time, there’s a shortage of GPs, with many practices stretched to their limits.
This is where Primary Care Network (PCN) pharmacists are making a decisive difference. By taking on a wide range of medicines-related responsibilities, they alleviate GP workload, enhance patient safety, and improve the quality of care.
Their contribution isn’t theoretical. It’s practical, daily, and measurable — freeing up clinical time, streamlining workflows, and giving GPs the capacity to focus where their expertise is needed most.
Understanding GP Workload Pressures
A significant portion of GP time is spent dealing with medication-related issues. Studies and NHS workforce data highlight:
- Up to 40% of patient contacts in general practice involve medicines in some way.
- Repeat prescribing accounts for a substantial administrative burden, often requiring GP authorisation.
- Long-term condition management consumes a growing share of GP appointments.
- Polypharmacy increases the complexity of decision-making, particularly for frail patients.
This creates a situation where highly skilled GPs spend a large proportion of their time on work that could safely be shared with pharmacists — without compromising, and often improving, quality of care.
How PCN Pharmacists Lighten the Load
1. Handling Prescription Queries and Repeat Prescribing
Pharmacists are ideally placed to manage prescription queries. They can:
- Assess requests for appropriateness and safety
- Resolve medication errors or stock issues
- Manage synchronisation of medications
- Conduct batch authorisations and support electronic repeat dispensing
By doing this work, pharmacists release hours of GP time every week.
2. Delivering Structured Medication Reviews (SMRs)
SMRs are a cornerstone of the PCN pharmacist role. They target high-risk patients — often with polypharmacy — to:
- Identify unnecessary or harmful medicines
- Optimise treatment plans
- Improve adherence through patient education
- Reduce hospital admissions and adverse events
Each SMR completed by a pharmacist means one less complex review on a GP’s desk.
3. Supporting Long-Term Condition Clinics
PCN pharmacists are increasingly running or co-running clinics for:
- Hypertension
- Asthma and COPD
- Diabetes
- Cardiovascular risk management
They adjust therapies, monitor outcomes, and provide patient education — enabling GPs to focus on patients requiring more advanced interventions.
4. Acting as the First Point of Contact for Medicines-Related Queries
Patients often need reassurance or clarification about their medicines. Rather than booking a GP appointment, they can speak with a pharmacist — who can:
- Advise on side effects and safe use
- Review over-the-counter interactions
- Recommend follow-up where needed
This significantly reduces unnecessary GP appointments.
The Impact on Practice Efficiency
When pharmacists are fully embedded in a PCN, their impact extends beyond the clinical sphere into operational efficiency:
- Prescription processing time is reduced.
- Medicine-related admin is shifted to appropriately skilled professionals.
- GP appointment capacity is increased.
- Clinical safety is enhanced through specialist oversight.
For example, some PCNs report a reduction of 8–10 hours per GP per week in prescription and medication-related work after integrating pharmacists.
Supporting the Wider Clinical Team
The pharmacist’s role doesn’t only benefit GPs. They support:
- Practice nurses — by aligning medication reviews with disease management reviews.
- Reception and admin teams — by handling medication queries directly.
- Social prescribers and care coordinators — by ensuring safe medicines use in vulnerable patients.
- Community pharmacies — by resolving stock and prescribing issues quickly.
This makes the entire multidisciplinary team (MDT) more effective.
Strategic Value for PCNs
From a PCN perspective, pharmacists provide strategic value in several ways:
- Helping practices meet IIF and QOF indicators related to medication safety, LTC control, and SMRs.
- Supporting NHS England’s medicines optimisation agenda.
- Enabling workforce sustainability, reducing burnout risk for GPs and other clinicians.
- Contributing to better patient outcomes and system cost savings.
In essence, pharmacists make PCNs stronger, safer, and more resilient.
Future Outlook: A More Balanced Primary Care Team
As more pharmacists become independent prescribers, their scope will expand even further. In the future, they’ll:
- Run more pharmacist-led clinics
- Manage stable LTC patients independently
- Play a greater role in clinical decision-making
- Contribute to population health planning
This shift won’t just reduce GP workload — it will reshape the workforce model in primary care.
How Prescribing Care Direct Helps Practices
At Prescribing Care Direct, we work with PCNs and GP practices to:
- Deploy experienced pharmacists who integrate seamlessly with existing teams.
- Tailor support to meet specific workload pressures.
- Deliver SMRs, clinics, and medicines optimisation programmes.
- Support achievement of national and local targets.
Our pharmacists don’t just “help out” — they transform workflows and create lasting capacity.
Conclusion: A Smarter Way to Share the Load
Reducing GP workload isn’t about shifting tasks blindly — it’s about using the right skills for the right jobs. PCN pharmacists are uniquely positioned to take on medicines-related responsibilities safely and effectively.
By embedding pharmacists into the heart of general practice, PCNs can create more time for GPs to focus on complex care, improve patient outcomes, and make services more sustainable.
📞 Call to Action:
If your PCN or GP practice wants to reduce GP workload while improving safety and efficiency, Prescribing Care Direct can help.
👉 Contact us today to learn how our pharmacists can support your team.