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A study commissioned by NHS England into patients’ experience of general practice in England has found the number of people who went to a pharmacy before they tried to get an appointment with their GP increased between 2024 and 2025.

More than 2.7 million surveys were sent out by Ipsos Mori to patients aged 16 and over who are registered with a GP practice, and that drew more than 702,800 responses between December 30, 2024 and April 1, 2025.

The survey asked patients a range of questions about how satisfied they were with their practice and it also highlighted how important pharmacies are to them. Fifteen per cent of respondents said they went to a pharmacy before booking an appointment with their GP this year compared with 14 per cent in 2024.

Nearly nine in 10 patients “had a good experience of pharmacy services”

Almost nine in 10 patients said they “had a good experience of pharmacy services” in the last 12 months and 51.6 per cent said their experience was “very good”.

Just 3.8 per cent said their experience was “poor” while 8.2 per cent said it was “neither good nor poor”. There was a 1.2 percentage points increase in the proportion of patients who said their experience of pharmacy services was “good overall”.

The survey also drilled down into the reasons patients went to a pharmacy. There was a slight drop in the number who did so to pick up a prescription, from 75.8 per cent last year to 75.3 per cent this year.

The proportion who went to a pharmacy to buy medication such as paracetamol or eye drops also fell slightly, from 44.6 per cent last year to 44 per cent this year.

More patients used a pharmacy to get advice about a prescription medicine

However, more patients (22.3 per cent) used a pharmacy to get advice about a prescription medicine, a health issue or other health services this year compared with 2024 (20.9 per cent).

There was an increase in the number of patients referred to a pharmacy by a GP, NHS 111 or A&E, from 7.3 per cent last year to 8.4 per cent this year, while more people had their blood pressure checked in a pharmacy (seven per cent in 2025 compared with 5.2 per cent in 2024).

There were also increases in the number of patients going to a pharmacy to have their medication monitored, receive support for a long-term condition and get contraception without a GP prescription.

Just over one in 10 respondents said they had not used any of the pharmacy services listed in the 12 months before taking part in the survey.

The Company Chemists’ Association chief executive Malcolm Harrison said the survey’s findings were “testament to the excellent care provided by community pharmacies nationwide”.

“We know that community pharmacy can be the first port of call for urgent care for a range of common conditions,” he said, repeating his call for Pharmacy First to be expanded to include a “wider range of treatments, conditions” as well as the “integration of independent prescribing”.

“This will allow patients to self-refer makes sense both for patients and the NHS,” Harrison added. “Expanding Pharmacy First could free up 40 million GP appointments annually.”