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Health secretary Jeremy Hunt has promised that £7.5 million of the £1bn primary care infrastructure fund will be used “to support community pharmacists with training and appropriate tools”.

Pharmacy Magazine understands the funds will be earmarked to support access to the summary care record (SCR), which is to be rolled out nationally over the next two years.

Mr Hunt made the announcement in a speech outlining his “new deal” for GPs, in which he described how practices are helping to deliver seven-day care by better use of pharmacies.

In Brighton, for instance, 16 GP practices are working with local pharmacies to create four “primary care clusters”, offering evening and weekend appointments with a GP or pharmacist and giving the pharmacist equal access to GP records.

Dr Jonathan Serjeant from Brighton said the pilot has been a “fantastic opportunity for practices to work with pharmacists to design and provide care for people” and help us understand how to offer more for people in more locations with a different skill mix.”

In his speech Mr Hunt repeated his commitment to increase the primary and community care workforce by at least 10,000, including an estimated 5,000 more doctors working in general practice, as well as more pharmacists, practice nurses, district nurses and physicians’ associates.