Just over 7 per cent of nearly 700,000 patients who responded to a survey about their views on GP services in England said they have been referred to a pharmacy by a practice, NHS 111 or A&E in the last 12 months.

The latest GP Patient Survey found 7.3 per cent of 694,064 patients aged 16 and over who answered a question about pharmacy services said they used a pharmacy “to address an issue” following referral. The survey drew 699,790 responses in total from 2,558,745 questionnaires that were sent out between January 2 and March 25 this year.

Of the 699,790 patients who answered a question on what NHS service they used when their GP practice was closed, 15.7 per cent said they went to a pharmacy, less than the 24.2 per cent who turned to A&E and 46.9 per cent who called NHS 111.

When it came to pharmacy services, which drew 625,567 responses, 86.8 per cent said they had a “good experience” while 49.6 per cent said it was “very good.” Less than five per cent said their experience was “poor” and 8.7 per cent said it was “neither good nor poor.”

Of the 694,064 patients who were asked what pharmacy services they had used, 75.8 per cent said they picked up prescriptions and 44.6 per cent said they bought medicine.

One in five said they went to a pharmacy to get advice while 20 per cent went there for a vaccine and 1.4 per cent to get contraception without a prescription.

Just over one in 10 said they had not used any pharmacy services during the 12 months before taking part in the survey. Nearly 90 per cent said they had used at least one pharmacy service in that time.