| Abstract: | Pharmacists are being challenged to move from a dispensing role to that of patient advocate, but barriers between general practitioners and community pharmacists may hinder the development of this role This qualitative study, using focus groups, sought to explore perceived barriers between GPs and community pharmacists Five GPs focus groups and six community pharmacist focus groups were convened; all discussions were audiotaped, transcribed and analysed by interpretative phenomenology The main themes from all the focus groups were the shopkeeper image of community pharmacy, access, awareness and hierarchy These themes, which acted as barriers in the GP‐pharmacist relationship, must be addressed in order to improve this key partnership in primary care |
