It is well known that patients are waiting longer to get a GP appointment and that without action the situation will get worse as a generation of GPs retires - two surgeries in in North and West Reading have already had to find new service providers as GPs retired and could not be replaced. Professional bodies have been looking at the role that pharmacists could play in General Practice. The Royal College of General Practitioners and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society have put out a joint announcement (see attached document). There is an over-supply of pharmacists - who are in any case cheaper to employ than GPs. Qualified pharmacists can become "prescribing pharmacists" by taking an additional course with a minimum of 26 days teaching and 12 days monitored learning in a practice environment (see attached document). Roles suggested for prescribing pharmacists in GP practices are to conduct medicines reviews for patients with long term conditions and review the management of medicines in the practice. A particular challenge is to arrange this in small practices such as we have in South Reading. The very great differences between the training of pharmacists and GPs are in the time that GPs spend with patients working on diagnostic and treatment skills. It would not be appropriate for pharmacists to be conducting primary diagnoses of patients. It is customary to recommend consultation with a pharmacist for "minor ailments". But what if one doesn't know in the first place just what ails one? A clear delineation of the role of the pharmacist in the GP practice is surely essential if we are not to descend to a second class GP service.