The General Practice Community Pharmacist Consultation Service (GP CPCS) is a pathway general practices use to refer patients with minor illness or low acuity conditions to a community pharmacist.
A patient referred electronically through GP CPCS will receive a consultation with a pharmacist in the consultation room or remotely, where the pharmacist will clinically assess the patient, referring to summary care records and NICE clinical knowledge summaries as appropriate. The consultation is not a conversation over the counter like the minor ailments service.
Only patients electronically referred from general practice or NHS 111 can be included in this service.
This increased use of pharmacists’ expertise can help make sure patients are provided with the right care by the right person at a time most convenient to them. This helps increase capacity within general practice for the treatment of patients with higher acuity needs.
This service aims to support the local NHS system and improve access to primary care through more effective use of existing resource, capacity, and expertise within the system.
Listen to the GP CPCS podcast to find out more
Benefits for patients
- Accessible and professional clinical service from the pharmacist of their choice
- Re-educates patients to go to the most appropriate healthcare professional for their needs
Benefits for general practice
- Creates capacity – more GP appointments available as those with minor illnesses/low acuity conditions have been referred to pharmacy
- Patients seen by the right healthcare professional at the right time
- Builds on and enhances local relationships between primary care providers
Benefits for pharmacy
- Allows community pharmacy to demonstrate its place within the NHS to manage patients with minor illnesses/low acuity conditions
- Builds on and enhances local relationships between primary care providers
Benefits for the NHS
- Cost-effective use of NHS resources to support patients with minor illnesses/low acuity conditions
EMIS link for local services
Information for non-EMIS practices
PharmRefer video: Pinnacle Media (pharmoutcomes.org)
Snomed codes to be manually added to the patient record for the service:
- Referral to CPCS 1362511000000107
- Declined referral to CPCS 1362521000000101
If a practice has an issue with their PharmRefer account e.g., forgot password, they should email: helpdesk@phpartnership.com
If a practice was using Vision or SystemOne when they received their GP CPCS training, but has now migrated to EMIS, they need to contact the EMIS helpdesk to ensure the licence is transferred from PharmRefer to the ‘local services’ button in EMIS.
To do this, practices need to log an incident with EMIS support via the EMIS Now service platform: https://www.emisnow.com/csm?id=kb_article_view&sysparm_article=KB0076456
Any other issues, please email: england.gpassurancework@nhs.net
Useful resources
- Community Pharmacy contribution to the Primary Care Access Recovery Plan
- NHS Community Pharmacist Consultation Service – GP Referral Surgery E-Learning
- GP CPCS Training for GP Practices July 2023 – YouTube
- GP CPCS initial engagement for general practice teams
- GP CPCS general practice FAQs
- GP CPCS general practice guide
- Accessing GP CPCS reports guide
- GP CPCS training for general practice teams
- GP CPCS referral protocol
- GP CPCS dos and don’ts for general practice
- GP CPCS case studies
- GP CPCS podcast
- CPCS campaign resources for practices
