Pharmacies could be given powers to diagnose and prescribe antibiotics as NHS ... trends now
Pharmacists will be drafted in to help ease pressure on the NHS this winter as thousands of nursing staff are set to go on strike.
The move could see chemists allowed to diagnose patients with minor conditions and prescribe antibiotics in what would be an unpresented move.
It is hoped this will help reduce demand for GP appointments and cut record waiting times and backlogs within the health service.
It comes as 100,000 nurses plan to walk out later this month, prompting fears that thousands of elective procedures and screening appointments will be axed.
Pharmacists will be drafted in to help ease pressure on the NHS this winter as thousands of nurses plan to go on strike. Picture: NHS staff marching from St Thomas' Hospital to Downing Street in summer
The strike, which will be the biggest action of its kind, is set to take place between December 15 and December 20. It comes as union bosses are demanding an above-inflation pay rise.
Yesterday Health Secretary Steve Barclay wrote to the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) and GMB unions, who are threatening the strike action, urging them to keep staffing levels to its minimum requirements to protect accident emergency services.
Last week, unions announced A&E and cancer wards would be hit by strike action. Paediatric intensive care, neonatal services, kidney dialysis, chemotherapy and critical care, however, will be protected from the action.
Allowing chemists to take on this extra role is expected to divert 65 million appointments away from GPs every year, the Telegraph reports.
If plans go ahead pharmacists would be allowed to diagnose patients with minor conditions. This would include handing out prescriptions for skin conditions or
