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The Conservatives are ignoring a €massively untapped resource€, while Labour's pledge to increase the number of GPs is misguided. That was Pharmacy Voice's verdict on the health policy announcements made at the recent party conferences.

David Cameron's announcement that all GP surgeries must open 12 hours every day by 2020 and Ed Milliband's pledge to increase the number of GPs by 8,000, and guarantee 48-hour access to GPs will not work, says Pharmacy Voice chief executive Rob Darracott.

€Ongoing pressures on the NHS mean we all have to think and act differently €“ it is time for politicians to recognise that promising more GPs is a solution, but there is a different and better way to go.

€At the Commissioning Show in June, Secretary of State Jeremy Hunt described community pharmacy as a 'massively untapped resource', so it is disappointing that once again politicians are focusing on one aspect of primary care, and one that, as GP leaders themselves admit, is not a quick fix, even if it were the right one.

€Community pharmacists and our other colleagues across primary care are already trained for this. We just need to be commissioned properly to do it in a way that's sustainable and will make sense for patients and the public.€