Optimising access to GP records to enable safe, scalable pharmacy-led care

NHS Digital leads national digital services that support care delivery across the NHS. As part of the Pharmacy First programme, the NHS aimed to reduce pressure on general practice by enabling pharmacists to manage consultations for minor ailments.

Before this programme, pharmacists had limited access to patient information. They could view the Summary Care Record, but this required logging into a separate system and provided only a partial view of the patient, focused mainly on current medication and allergies. The information was not always up to date and did not include observations, investigations or a complete medication history.

This lack of access constrained clinical decision-making and increased risk, particularly for patients with complex needs. It also meant minor conditions often defaulted to GP appointments, adding avoidable demand to already stretched services. Delivering safe pharmacy-led care at scale required a way for pharmacists to access richer, up-to-date GP record data during consultations.

Answer Digital worked with NHS Digital and programme partners to support the delivery of Access Record Structured as part of the GP Connect product suite.

We collaborated with pharmacists, GP representatives and system suppliers to design consultation workflows that reflected real-world practice. Mock-ups and live patient testing were used to validate usability and safety before rollout, reducing risk and improving clinical confidence.

We supported a first-of-its-kind national implementation, providing hands-on delivery support as the service went live and addressing issues as they emerged. Alongside this, we worked with suppliers to enable interoperability, offering technical guidance to help teams adopt national standards and integrate the capability into existing pharmacy systems.

Pharmacists can now securely access structured GP record data during consultations, including medications, test results and observations. This enables safer, more informed clinical decisions and reduces the risk of duplicate prescribing or adverse drug interactions.

Access to richer patient information allows pharmacists to resolve more cases independently, reducing unnecessary GP appointments and freeing up capacity for more complex care. Where escalation is needed, pharmacists are better equipped to refer patients appropriately, supporting safer triage across the system.

The solution has been designed for national scale, enabling phased rollout across the UK and reducing barriers for suppliers and pharmacies to adopt the service. It also supports wider NHS objectives by moving away from fragmented third-party solutions towards consistent, NHS-led capabilities.