GP services in Kent are strained. People struggle to get appointments and surgeries do not have enough doctors to help the ever-growing population.

Plans are being put in place to try and help, but there are problems at every turn.

In Sittingbourne plans for a new state-of-the-art surgery that would mean a GP practice could take on thousands of patients were stalled due to funding problems .

The problems in Swale are partly caused by its growing population, something councillors have called on the government's help to cope with.

Housing developments have stalled in Teynham as the village has been left without a GP.

In Kings Hill and West Malling, it is claimed that a group of doctors’ surgeries that serve 60,000 people could face “a serious threat of overload” because of plans for new care homes.

In January last year, health bosses offered GPs thousands of pounds for roles at surgeries in Thanet, Medway and Swale to try and fill more empty posts.

In a bid to reduce the pressure on local services across the country, the government introduced plans to get pharmacies to treat more common illnesses.

This launched in January and meant patients suffering from seven common illnesses could get treatment and prescription-only medicines without having to see their GP.

These include symptoms such as sinusitis, sore throats, earaches, infected insect bites, impetigo, shingles, and uncomplicated urinary tract infections.

Out of 307 pharmacies in Kent, 304 signed up to the Pharmacy First Scheme.

Mark Anyaegbuna, chief executive of Community Pharmacy Kent – whose group represents all community pharmacy contractors in the county – says the uptake has been “absolutely phenomenal” from both patients and pharmacists.

He said: "It's an absolutely brilliant idea. These sorts of ailments can effectively be looked after in community pharmacies and give more people more access to health care.

"In the long run this will create more appointment time slots for people that really need them, so gone will be the days when we are still ringing our general practice up to 8am to try and get an appointment.

"If we can ease up some more appointments scheduled so more people can have access to the GP appointments and move those stable patients to where they can be looked after effectively closer to their home then that is the right model."

In February – the first month of the scheme – pharmacists had more than 12,800 referrals from GPs, urgent and emergency care sites and NHS 111.

“In the long run it will create more appointment time slots for people who really need them...

This has saved around 1,500 hours of GP time as well as £67,000.

Health experts believe will eventually save 10 million GP appointments across the country a year.

This should help patients in Kent who, according to NHS England, have to wait longer to get an appointment on average than the rest of the country.

Of the 898,000 appointments in Kent and Medway during March, only four in ten people were able to see their GP on the day that they called up – some 368,000.

But two in ten people had to wait more than two weeks to get an appointment while some 51,000 appointments were made more than 28 days after the initial call – 5.7%.

But how is it working for the pharmacists? Stephen Kane runs Pender Pharmacy in Gravesend and signed up for the scheme in March.

The service recently reopened after a massive blaze broke out in a neighbouring building.

While he sees the benefits of the scheme, he hasn't noticed a huge take-up from his patients.

He said: “I am not sure why more people haven’t used the service but it could be perhaps the scheme hasn’t had the publicity that the NHS promised.

“It could also be because the GP practices in Gravesend aren’t having the same problems other places in the county are having. So the uptake may depend on how easily people can see their GP.

“There are positives to the scheme as community pharmacies are here to be used and we can help alleviate pressure.

“I would imagine that in the future we would be taking on more NHS work but it is already difficult as we have our own workload.”

Stephen points to an issue that is raised time and time again with the NHS - funding.

“With the appropriate funding, we can help the NHS more...

He said: “At the moment we get paid £15 per consultation but also a lump sum if we meet targets but these are becoming harder to meet.

“I would like to see the lump sum got rid of and a larger sum being offered per consultation.

“It is labour-intensive work as we first had to re-skill and upgrade training and then we do everything your GP has to do during a consultation including the paperwork.

“However, more and more work seems to be coming to pharmacies and at the end of the day it is a good thing.”

Pharmacist Amish Patel, who owns Hodgson Pharmacy in Station Road, Longfield, also says a lack of funding means the business is struggling.

Unlike Stephen, he has seen an influx of NHS patients since the scheme began with some 150 patients using the service in April – partly because it’s the lone pharmacy in the village after Lloyds left in September.

But Amish says the extra NHS work comes at a price to his business.

The only way he stays afloat is through private treatments as it makes around a £1,000 monthly loss from prescription and NHS services.

Adding to this, Amish has had to hire another pharmacist to take on the workload.

He told KentOnline: “I currently make a loss every time I deliver it each month,” he said, “I will be deciding whether I continue with the service or whether I have to pull it all together.

“Pharmacies are already overstretched with the current essential service we do with regards to sourcing and supplying medication and giving advice.

“If I don't receive enough referrals or if enough people don't come through the door I can't cover the new pharmacist's wage.

“With the appropriate funding, we can help the NHS more.

“Then we can talk about doing these great new services and helping out GPs and the primary care network in general.”

While Mr Anyaegbuna is positive about the scheme, he also recognises the struggle with finances.

He said: “The funding element of it needs to be put right so our pharmacies can remain vibrant and continue to invest in the much-needed infrastructure to be able to support the wider healthcare system.

“The direction of travel where we're utilising the skill set of community pharmacies is heading in the right direction.

“But again there needs to be the right funding to ensure we are supporting the sector and backing it in the new model of working where pharmacies are providing more services.”

He also warns that because so many patients arrive through referral, it's hard to predict how busy it will be when more patients use the new service.

This means pharmacists do not know how many staff they will need on shift. The solution to this, he says, is for people to refer themselves digitally.

Although there are issues to be resolved surrounding the new scheme, Mr Anyaegbuna is already looking for further services that pharmacies could offer.

He points north across the border to Scotland, which rolled out its own Pharmacy First scheme in July 2020.

“There needs to be the right funding to ensure we are supporting the sector...

More than 1.6 million people have used the service between October 2022 and September 2023 according to data released in April by Public Health Scotland – around 30% of the population.

The Pharmacy First scheme was launched under Rishi Sunak's government. A Conservative spokesman said the scheme is backed with £645 million in funding in addition to £2.6 billion provided to the sector every year.

A Tory spokesman added: “The Conservatives recognise the important role that pharmacies have in helping patients receive care more quickly in their local community.

“That is why we launched our Pharmacy First approach earlier this year, backed by £645 million, to help community pharmacies. 98% of pharmacies have signed up. This is in addition to the £2.6 billion provided to the sector every year.

“Rishi Sunak and the Conservatives are delivering on a clear plan to boost the role and support for pharmacies, as we take the bold action needed to help people live healthier and happier lives.”

But what the future of the scheme looks like will be heavily influenced by the result of the general election on July 4.

Last week the main parties launched their manifestos and community pharmacies were pointed to as a way of reducing pressure on GPs across the board.

The Conservative Party said they want to expand the Pharmacy First scheme.

This would include menopause support, contraception and treatment for chest infections which it says will free up 20 million GP appointments a year.

Meanwhile in the Labour Party manifesto, revealed on Thursday, June 13, the party said it will create a new scheme called the Community Pharmacist Prescribing Service.

This would see more pharmacists given independent prescribing rights “where clinically appropriate”. The party, which is on track for majority rule, says this service will help alleviate pressure on GPs.

The Liberal Democrats put forward a similar argument as part of its £9.4 billion package for the NHS and social care in England.

In its manifesto, published on Monday, June 10, the Lib Dems said it would also free up GP appointments by building on the Pharmacy First scheme.

It added that it would “work towards a fairer and more sustainable long-term funding model for pharmacies” as well.

However, the Green Party made just one mention of the pharmacies in its plans for Britain.

The brief mention came in the Green’s pledge to end new cases of HIV by 2030.

Reform UK has yet to launch their “contract with the people” which will be published today (Monday, June 17).

Although Labour and the Greens did not mention Pharmacy First there is no indication that if they were to come to power they would scrap the scheme.

This suggests a shift in attitude in the country away from GP services being our first port of call.

But as our pharmacist experts have told us, they need more funding to take on this extra care that the government want to offload onto them.