Community pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and GPs are already collaborating in various programmes, including one in Sheffield, which is now being delivered in over 80 general practices. The past 18 months have seen a range of successful partnerships where community pharmacists have been 'backfilled' to enable them to work in their matched surgery for at least one clinical session a week.

The majority of pharmacists have jumped in at the deep end and participated with no existing knowledge or experience of working in general practice. It has taken time for pharmacists to learn how their general practice works, get to know the team and explore how they can utilise their medicines expertise to free up GP time. Encouraging feedback early on in the programme demonstrates the positive engagement from both GPs and community pharmacists and some of their aspirations for joint working.

Initially, the GPs and the pharmacists involved in the Sheffield programme needed guidance to maximise this opportunity. A 'menu' of activities was proposed, mostly supporting patients behind the scenes, such as reconciling repeat prescriptions and dealing with hospital discharges. As confidence on both sides has grown and a level of trust developed, this has evolved into a much more dynamic patient-facing range of interventions, such as supporting morning triage by dealing with the medication queries that come through and domiciliary visits carrying out medication reviews.