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Pharmacy bodies have given a cautious welcome to the news that NHS England is to invest £15m in recruiting and employing clinical pharmacists in GP surgeries as part of a three-year initiative. However they have warned not to sideline community pharmacy in the process.

Pharmacy Voice chief executive Rob Darracott said it was vital to ensure that part of the remit of individuals taking up these roles is to strengthen the links between general practice and community pharmacy. But it was paramount that other important developments for community pharmacy were not put on the back-burner.

"It is essential that other initiatives that support effective joint working are accelerated, such as the roll-out of Summary Care Records, ideally with a move to read/write access," he said.

PSNC's chief executive Sue Sharpe hoped that pharmacists in other settings would collaborate closely with their community colleagues to ensure patients are receiving joined up and consistent care. "We hope that this project will give community and other pharmacists a chance to explore new ways of working and training together to offer the best possible care to patients.”

However John Nuttall, chief executive of Well (formerly The Co-operative Pharmacy), saw this as "another missed opportunity" by NHS England, whose aim could also have been achieved by using the medicines expertise found in every community pharmacy in England.

"Community pharmacists delivering minor ailments consultations or providing support services for those with long-term conditions would divert a significant number of patients from their GP surgery. Both of these types of services have successfully run from community pharmacies, but we are yet to hear from NHS England on when they will finally commission them nationally."

This "failure to act" has contributed to the need for new models of care in GP surgeries, he believed.