Pharmacy First – a programme first introduced in 2024 – enables community pharmacies to prescribe medication for 7 common conditions, including earache, sore throat, and urinary tract infections. It was designed to free up GP appointments for patients, and provide quicker, more convenient access to healthcare services.
Led by Health Data Scientist Viveck Kingsley and Senior Researcher Milan Wiedemann, researchers analysed more than 26 million electronic health records from patients at 2,540 general practices from 31 January 2024 to 30 January 2025. They identified over 400,000 Pharmacy First consultations for over 340,000 patients, and found that:
- Uptake was highest among those in the most deprived quintile
- Over 67% of users were female
- Over 59% of users were aged under 40
- Over 71% of users were of White British ethnicity
- Acute pharyngitis and uncomplicated UTI were the most frequently recorded clinical conditions
Read the full story on the Bennett Institute for Applied Data Science website.