Numark has welcomed the proposals from the RPS and Royal College of GPs for pharmacists to be based in surgeries, but has called for clarity on their roles and funding.

Mandeep Mudhar, Numark’s director of marketing, commented: “This is welcome news, especially at a time when there is an abundance of pharmacists and real risk of unemployment amongst the profession in the future. Not only would this new position help to mitigate against this, but it could also provide an opportunity for those pharmacists who have trained as independent prescribers or who have additional clinical specialisms."

What will be critical is a strong tripartite relationship between GP, practice pharmacist and community pharmacy for the maximum benefit of the patient. No party can work in isolation, he said.

However Mr Mudhar called for clarity on how any new funding will be made available for pharmacists working in a practice setting. "This must be new funding from NHS England and must not cannibalise any existing monies in the current community pharmacy funding allocation."

He added: "We also need to understand exactly how they will be reducing the burden on GPs. It is important that they do not start providing services from practices that are currently being provided through community pharmacy."