Work will begin immediately on installing on-site pharmacists in 700 GP practices and is expected to cover more than six million patients.
The roll-out comes after successful pilots where clinical pharmacists offered expertise and advice for patients on day-to-day medical issues.
Dr Arvind Madan, NHS England director of primary care, said: “The clinical pharmacist programme is a clear win-win for patients and GPs.
“The pilots have shown GP workload to be eased while patients have the convenience of being seen by the right professional in a more timely way.”
The programme is part of NHS England’s measures to support general practice and give patients more convenient access to care.
It is investing more than £100m to support 1,500 clinical pharmacists working in general practice by 2020/21.
This is in addition to over 490 clinical pharmacists already working across approximately 650 GP practices as part of a pilot, launched in July 2015.
One of the clinical pharmacists who took part in the pilot said: “The patients get a thorough review from a medicines specialist and have the opportunity to ask questions about their medications and monitoring of their medical conditions.
“There is shared decision making regarding management of their medical condition and it empowers the patient to take responsibility for their health.”
The roll-out of this scheme is backed by NHS England, Health Education England, the Royal College of General Practitioner, British Medical Association’s GP Committee and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society.
Today’s announcement follows a pledge by the NHS to put an extra 3,250 GPs and 1,500 mental health therapists into GP surgeries by 2019.
