PAGB urges community pharmacy to become core self-care partner
PAGB has called for community pharmacy to take a central role in supporting public self-care, with chief executive Michelle Riddalls saying the time to act is now. The organisation wants pharmacy teams positioned as a first point of contact for self-care, not an afterthought.
What happened
PAGB launched a self-care road map setting out a vision for how the public manages health, with community pharmacy named as a key partner in that model. Riddalls was direct: "now is the time to prioritise self-care." The road map calls on stakeholders across the health system to recognise community pharmacy's place in that picture.
The call comes at a point when pressure on GP services and NHS capacity has sharpened interest in what pharmacy can do beyond dispensing. PAGB's position is that pharmacy teams are well placed to guide patients towards appropriate self-care, and that this role should be formalised rather than assumed.
Why it matters
For anyone working in or heading into community pharmacy, this is about professional identity as much as service design. The argument PAGB is making isn't new, but the road map gives it a sharper shape: pharmacy should be where people go first for self-care support, and that relationship should be built into how the health system functions.
What does that mean in practice? It means conversations at the counter about whether a patient needs to see a GP, whether an over-the-counter product is appropriate, whether a symptom warrants further investigation. These are decisions pharmacy teams already make every day. PAGB's point is that this work deserves proper recognition and structure, rather than being treated as informal triage that happens to occur in pharmacy.
For pre-registration trainees, this is worth paying attention to for two reasons. First, it reflects how commissioners and representative bodies are thinking about pharmacy's future. If self-care becomes a more formally defined part of the pharmacy role, the expectations placed on newly registered pharmacists will shift accordingly. Second, and more immediately, it signals the kind of thinking that underpins service development conversations you'll encounter during training.
Self-care support isn't just recommending a product. It includes helping patients understand when self-treatment is appropriate, when it isn't, and what to watch for. That requires clinical knowledge, communication skills, and the confidence to have honest conversations with patients who may arrive expecting a quick fix.
Community pharmacy is accessible in a way that most of the health system isn't. No appointment needed. Free at the point of care. Present in almost every high street and shopping centre across the country. PAGB's road map is built on that reality. The organisation wants that accessibility matched by a formal expectation that pharmacy delivers self-care support, not just medicines.
There's also a workforce dimension here. If pharmacy is to fulfil this role, teams need the time, resources, and backing to have those conversations properly. A pharmacist managing a busy dispensing queue while also trying to conduct meaningful self-care consultations is being asked to do two jobs at once. Whether the system provides the conditions for this kind of practice is a separate question from whether the vision is sound.
GPhC exam relevance
The GPhC Common Registration Assessment tests your ability to apply clinical knowledge in realistic pharmacy scenarios. Self-care situations appear regularly. You may be asked to assess whether a symptom presentation is suitable for self-management, which over-the-counter product is appropriate for a given patient, or when referral is the right call.
PAGB's framing of pharmacy as a self-care partner maps directly onto the kind of decision-making the assessment probes. You won't be asked about PAGB's road map itself, but the clinical reasoning it implies — using accessible consultation skills to support patients in managing their own health — is exactly what examiners are looking for evidence of.
Know your over-the-counter frameworks. Be clear on which conditions are suitable for self-care and which warrant referral. Understand how product selection changes with patient age, comorbidities, or concomitant medicines. These are the practical skills that sit behind the policy language.
It's also worth being comfortable with the communication side. Shared decision-making, clear explanation of self-care options, and honest advice about when a patient should seek further help are all within scope for the assessment. The clinical and the conversational are both being tested.
What's next
Watch for how NHS England and the Department of Health respond to PAGB's road map, and whether community pharmacy contract negotiations in England reflect any shift toward formally funded self-care services. If self-care support becomes a commissioned activity rather than an assumed one, that changes the resourcing picture significantly.
For your training placement, it's worth observing how your supervising pharmacist handles self-care consultations at the counter. Notice the questions asked, how the conversation is structured, and how decisions about referral are made. That's the practical version of what PAGB is describing.
Source: Chemist+Druggist — https://www.chemistanddruggist.co.uk/news/clinical/make-community-pharmacy-a-core-self-care-partner-urges-pagb-ZR5CZNJPTRGETCK5DCPT4DIEDQ/