Nearly 10,000 pharmacies in England claimed for more than 400,000 Pharmacy First consultations in total in the three months after the service launched, according to official figures.

The NHS Business Services Authority said 9,976 pharmacies lodged claims for 423,310 consultations between January 31 this year when Pharmacy First started and April 30.

Seventy-eight per cent of consultations resulted in a medicine being supplied to patients. The NHS BSA said “additional data held by NHS England” showed 15 per cent of consultations resulted “in advice only.”

The number of consultations claimed rose steadily, from 125,275 in February to 144,389 in March and 153,646 in April. The average number of consultations per pharmacy was 42.

The most consultations over that three-month period was for sore throat (152,695), followed by uncomplicated urinary tract infections (109,165), otitis media (61,076), sinusitis (53,319), impetigo (20,747), infected insect bites (13,691) and shingles (12,617).