The head of the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) has warned that the quality of OTC medicines advice must continue to improve.

A Which? report published in May 2013 found 71 per cent of visits to a pharmacy ‘unsatisfactory’.

The GPhC’s chief executive Duncan Rudkin shared his views as he addressed delegates at a recent seminar hosted by the GPhC and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society.

Rudkin said: “The fear is that Which? will go back and find the same thing, we musn’t lose sign of what we are trying to make better.”

Professor Elisabeth Paice, chair of the integrated care management board at NHS North West London, said that frontline staff are integral as the first point of contact within the pharmacy. She said: “This is all about frontline staff. They must change to make a difference. Too much has been put on the shoulders of the strategy makers.”

Paice added that continued training of pharmacy support staff and pharmacists can contribute to improving the quality of OTC medicines advice provided to customers.

She also suggested that GPs, nurses, hospital consultants and ambulance staff need to work alongside community pharmacy.

“We need a multi-professional, inter-professional approach,” she said.