A leading Scottish pharmacist says the easy accessibility of community pharmacies means they should be central to all mass vaccination programmes – and to ensuring everybody gets routine jabs they are supposed to.

Jonathan Burton, who co-owns a number of pharmacies across Scotland and runs the on-campus pharmacy at Stirling University, says the vision of pharmacies being the “walk-in health centres on every high street” should include people being able to get their vaccinations there.

Mr Burton, who is also currently chair of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society in Scotland but was talking in a personal capacity, told delegates to the Pharmacy Management National Forum for Scotland that the public has appreciated the “sheer accessibility” of community pharmacy in recent months when other parts of the NHS had to restrict how people could attend.

“It’s about how we help the NHS to provide services to the entire population, what our core strengths are and what we can bring to that.

“We need to look at vaccination for flu and covid. And we need to look at potentially topping up vaccinations, childhood and adolescent schedules, and, given the situation currently with NHS travel vaccination provision – which I would argue through the GP settings has become patchy – pharmacy is very well-suited to take on some of that.

“I do think there is a really significant role for us in terms of top-up and mop-up vaccination programmes because that’s really where our accessibility comes into its own.

“And in terms of who delivers the services, I really do think that we need to be moving positively towards a situation where our technicians – who are well-qualified, registered professionals – can be authorised to do much of this vaccination work.”

An emergency change in legislation earlier this year has allowed community pharmacists, and other healthcare professionals working outside GP practices, to deliver vaccination against all preventable diseases.

The Scottish government has left the decision on whether to ask pharmacists to support the current winter flu programme to the NHS boards.

A spokesperson for Community Pharmacy Scotland confirmed that some, but not all, boards have asked high street pharmacists to take part. In some regions this has simply been asking them to vaccinate those who request a flu jab while, in others, they have been commissioned to provide a service to entire cohorts of eligible patients.

The CPS spokesperson added:

“We would of course encourage consistency of approach and are looking to influence that for future programmes.”

In a wide-ranging analysis of future directions for community pharmacy, Jonathan Burton talked about his own practice where the majority of patients are students and people working on the campus.

Much of his time is spent talking to people about their health and mental health, prescribing medicines for common conditions and referring some to other healthcare teams - an approach that is now being formalised under NHS Pharmacy First:

“When we think about Pharmacy First, we think about minor ailments. But it is bigger than that. It is a watershed moment for community practice in terms of the way that we see ourselves and the way that the public see us: as a consultation-based service.

“My experience of offering an extended consultation-based service for common clinical conditions is that, the more that you talk to patients and the more that you make yourself available and the more that they and your local community appreciate that, then you can really offer really good quality consultation time.

Then what naturally happens is that people start to gravitate towards you with more than just minor physical ailments.”

NHS Ayrshire and Arran this week became the latest health board to launch an awareness programme for the NHS Pharmacy First scheme.

Ayrshire and Arran’s Director of Pharmacy, Roisin Kavanagh, said it is important that as many people as possible know that they can go to their local community pharmacist for healthcare advice for a range of conditions:

“With the current pandemic, GP practices are under more pressure and are busier than ever. But often you don’t need to see a GP. Often your local pharmacy will be able to provide medical support that is closer to home, with a shorter waiting time and with no appointment needed,” adding:

“Remember to think ‘Pharmacy First’ when you need healthcare advice.”