Researchers use OpenSAFELY to deliver first-ever large-scale analysis of Pharmacy First consultations in GP clinical systems

Conducting the first-ever, large-scale analysis of Pharmacy First consultations in GP records, researchers at the Bennett Institute for Applied Data Science, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of Nottingham, University of Manchester, and UKHSA used OpenSAFELY to analyse the programme’s service uptake, data quality, and integration into primary care systems.

Pharmacy First – a programme first introduced in 2024 – enables community pharmacies to prescribe medication for 7 common conditions, including earache, sore throat, and urinary tract infections. It was designed to free up GP appointments for patients, and provide quicker, more convenient access to healthcare services.

Led by Health Data Scientist Viveck Kingsley and Senior Researcher Milan Wiedemann, researchers analysed more than 26 million electronic health records from patients at 2,540 general practices from 31 January 2024 to 30 January 2025. They identified over 400,000 Pharmacy First consultations for over 340,000 patients, and found that:

• Uptake was highest among those in the most deprived quintile
• Over 67% of users were female
• Over 59% of users were aged under 40
• Over 71% of users were of White British ethnicity
• Acute pharyngitis and uncomplicated UTI were the most frequently recorded clinical conditions

Researchers found that clinical information recorded in Pharmacy First consultations improved over time. By January 2025, over 36% of Pharmacy First consultations had a recorded clinical condition, medication, or both. Among consultations using the recommended Pharmacy First code, this proportion was over 53%.

Professor Ben Goldacre, Director of the Bennett Institute for Applied Data Science, said: “OpenSAFELY has opened up new possibilities for collaborative research on NHS GP data, combining scale, speed, and transparency in ways that weren’t possible before. We know that future research on Pharmacy First will depend on strong technical integration, consistent recording across systems, and most importantly, strong research collaborations.”

Viveck Kingsley, Health Data Scientist at the Bennett Institute for Applied Data Science, said: “Before this study, little was known about how Pharmacy First consultations were recorded in GP records, or how much clinical information was transferred in practice. Thanks to OpenSAFELY, we were able to analyse Pharmacy First consultation data at scale for the first time, giving us a much clearer picture of how diagnoses and medications are recorded in GP clinical systems.”

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