An advertisement in GP last month said the move will help practices improve their quality framework scores. The advert claimed that a Boots pharmacy is ‘just what your surgery needs’.
‘A Boots in-house pharmacy will help you reduce overheads and boost your average funding level. We’ll give you financial support and advice you need to extend or refit your premises,’ the advertisement claimed.
Tracy Shelton, Boots’ pharmacy acquisition manager, said the pharmacy chain would provide interested practices with ‘a full design and build project, to pay for architects, drawings, planning and contractors’.
‘Improved premises allow GPs to tick more boxes on their quality framework list, so they will receive more payments for services,’ she said.
Boots is thought to be the only firm to target GP surgeries so far.
Sainsbury’s has been looking at the possibility of bringing GPs to work in stores where it already has a pharmacist, but a spokeswoman said there were no current plans to work the other way round, putting pharmacies in existing GP practices.
Lloydspharmacy already has some pharmacies located in large health centres, but is not yet moving into established GP surgeries.
