“When I meet GPs, one of the things they say to me is when patients are offered an appointment with a pharmacist or a nurse or a physio, they often think they’re getting second best,” she said.
“But actually other healthcare professionals have got brilliant expertise, and sometimes they’re better placed than the GP. We are trying to get that message out that your GP isn’t always the best person to help you.”
Ms Caulfield, the primary care minister, said pharmacies were being “overwhelmed” by the number of patients returning after using them for their first or second covid jab.
“They liked the experience and are going back to them as a first port of call rather that a GP,” she said.
“There is no shortage of people wanting their flu vaccine. They’ve been really surprised by the uptake. There is definitely an appetite for people wanting the flu jab this year.”
Dr Leyla Hannbeck, chief executive of the Association of Independent Multiple Pharmacies, said pharmacists had to order supplies a year in advance – well before the Government decided which groups should receive a free flu vaccine.
People over 50 are able to get the flu jab free for the second year in a row, while the vaccine is also being offered to all secondary school children for the first time.
Dr Hannbeck said: “The problem is the vaccine supply – it’s patchy. It’s extremely frustrating.
“In previous years pharmacists have ordered a lot of vaccine to be prepared, but if it has to be thrown away they incur a lot of cost.”
She said she was asking the Department of Health to allow supplies of the flu vaccine given to people over 65 – which contains an extra ingredient to help the immune system make a stronger response – to be given to those aged 50-64 to ease supply problems.
