hello, you re watching breakfast with sally nugent and jon kay. coming up to 6:30am. let s return now to the government s plan to overhaul primary care in england, with hundreds of millions of pounds to help community pharmacists to treat more common conditions, and improve gps phone systems. some primary care leaders have already expressed concern that it doesn t tackle the most pressing issue of staff shortages. let s hear now from two more gp dr mohit mandiratta, and jay patel, who runs a chain of 260 pharmacies. good morning. jay, shall we start with the pharmacy side of things. the government wants pharmacies to
feels quite demoralising that we are not managing to meet that need. you ok, you being served? today the government promised to improve gp services under new plans. £645 million will be spent over two years to allow pharmacists to prescribe antibiotics for conditions including earache, sore throats and urinary tract infections. and they ll double the number of blood pressure checks they carry out. and patients will be able to book physiotherapy and podiatry services without going through a doctor. new phone systems will be offered to some gps and training for receptionists to direct calls to a range of services, including physios and nurses. the plan today is a really big part of trying to recognise the level of pressure on primary care to innovate, to adapt services, to meet that pressure and to meet the needs of our patients. hello, there.
in portsmouth and the surrounding areas here they say they are short of gps by around 50%. back in 2016 and 2019 in england to the government set targets to increase gp numbers, but it s notjust on track to miss those two targets, gp numbers have actually fallen even further. are you 0k? are you being served? yes today the government promised to improve gp services under new plans. 616 million will be spent over two years to allow pharmacists to prescribe antibiotics for conditions including earache, sore throats and urinary tract infections. and they ll double the number of blood pressure checks they carry out. patients will be able to book physiotherapy and podiatry services without going through a doctor. and new phone systems will be offered to some gps and training for receptionists to direct calls to a range of services, including physios and nurses.