In its response to a Freedom of Information Request (FOI), the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) has confirmed a net decrease of 101 pharmacies
in England - with 371 closures and 270 new contracts. Meanwhile, the General Pharmaceutical Council data projected a drop of 43 registered pharmacies in England,
Wales, and Scotland for the year ending March 31, 2023, compared to the preceding period.
The data, released by business advisor Christie & Co in its annual pharmacy market review on Sept. 5, revealed a total of 14,328 pharmacies across all four UK
country regions as of March 31, 2023, indicating a 0.3 per cent decrease from the previous year. Corporate operators experienced a net reduction of 249 pharmacies,
while the total number of independent operators remained consistent with 2022.
According to the study, the corporate sector saw the most substantial shift, with a 13.7 per cent reduction in businesses operating 300 or more pharmacies.
Following closely, groups managing 11 to 15 pharmacies experienced a 5.6 per cent decrease. Christie & Co attributed this shift in group size to operators
acquiring additional pharmacies through corporate disposal opportunities throughout the year.
Now is the best time for community pharmacy to integrate its model of NHS representation and support to ensure better outcomes for contractors, said James Wood, director of Contractor & LPC Support, Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC).
It is important for the sector to adapt to the new landscape and address challenges such as workforce, digital data, integration of pharmacy services, and medicines optimisation, he said during the first session of the sixth annual Pharmacy Business Conference held online on Tuesday, September 21.
Under the new system, every part of England will be covered by integrated care systems (ICSs) from April 2022. ICSs have been created to bring about big changes in how health and care services in England are planned, paid for and delivered. They are a key part of the direction of travel for the NHS as outlined in the NHS Long Term Plan.
Community pharmacies played a central role in the government's response to the Covid-19 pandemic, delivering more than 22 million jabs in the past 12 months.
Besides delivering millions of jabs, latest figures from NHS England and NHS Improvement (NHSE&I) revealed a 50 per cent increase in the number of pharmacies
delivering Covid boosters compared from October 2021 to January 2022.
NHSE&I released the data on Friday (January 14) to thank community pharmacy teams for their work during the crisis time.
Lauding the efforts made by community pharmacy teams during the pandemic, Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) director of NHS Services Alastair Buxton said: "Just over a year ago we were fighting for Government recognition of the part community pharmacy could play in administering Covid vaccines, so a year later it is great to see the efforts of the pharmacy vaccination sites being praised by NHSE&I, with recognition of the significant role they have played in the overall programme.
In a decisive move highlighting the financial strain faced by community pharmacies, the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) submitted a £108 million invoice
to the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) today (16 May).
According to the NPA, this substantial sum represents the amount that pharmacies in England personally covered for the dispensing of NHS medicines last month, as a
result of inadequate funding.
"The £108m figure is an average monthly figure based on the loss to pharmacy incomes over the past decade," it said.
The association believes that mass closures can be prevented only when the government stops expecting pharmacies to subsidise the cost of delivering NHS care.
NPA chief executive Paul Rees, said: "The soaring costs of dispensing medicine coupled with declining real terms funding has led to community pharmacies in
England having to subsidise the dispensing of drugs to the tune of £108m a month.
Pharmacy professionals to be included as key stakeholders in the implementation, delivery and evaluation of a wide range of genomic services, said the Royal
Pharmaceutical Society (RPS).
RPS's statement has been developed in collaboration with pharmacy organisations who have co-badged the report, such as the British Oncology Pharmacy Association,
the UK Clinical Pharmacy Association, Association of Pharmacy Technicians and the College of Mental Health Pharmacy.
It looks at current and future roles for pharmacy professionals in genomic medicine across many aspects of practice such as person-centred care and collaboration,
professional practice, education, leadership, management and research.
Pharmacists and pharmacy technicians in the UK have already established roles in the application of genomic medicine in some areas of practice, such as antimicrobial
stewardship and infectious diseases, and the management of certain genetic conditions, such as cystic fibrosis.
The society believes, the current role of pharmacy professionals in genomics can be expanded upon in the future to both lead and support many relevant aspects of
genomic implementation. These are described across all healthcare sectors, within the Genome UK strategy produced by the UK Government, and within the implementation
plans published in England, Scotland and Wales.
Lead for Pharmacogenomics at RPS Sophie Harding said: "Pharmacy professionals are the gatekeepers of medication safety and efficacy across all areas of healthcare.
They are skilled at interpreting complex scientific data and use evidence-based medicine to maximise the benefits of treatments for patients, whilst supporting
shared decision-making with patients and the multidisciplinary team.
Amid the ongoing furore over shortages of Lateral Flow Device (LFD) test kits that led pharmacy staff to bear customers' wrath, the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) and Company Chemists Association (CCA) have jointly appealed the public to be "patient and courteous to pharmacy teams".
In an open letter, the two organisations have urged patients and customers to be patient, courteous and safe while visiting their local pharmacies.
Highlighting the efforts put in by healthcare workers to keep everyone safe through this tough winter, the two organisations said the pressure of Covid-19 and shortage of LFD kits have sometimes led to verbal abuse of pharmacy staff.
Mark Lyonette, NPA chief executive said: "The vast majority of pharmacy customers and patients are polite and understanding. The supply situation with Lateral Flow Tests is stretching people's patience, but that's no excuse for abusive behaviour and people need to understand the constraints on pharmacy teams at this time."
Alongside their routine job of providing medicines, health advice and a range of NHS services, pharmacies have put in extra effort to protect people during the pandemic.
The National Health Service (NHS) retention programme has benefitted 23 NHS Trusts since it launched in April 2022, with thousands fewer staff leaving
frontline roles.
NHS data showed that 14,000 fewer staff left the service in the 12 months up to August 2023 (108,890) compared to 122,970 the year before.
In a statement released on Thursday, the NHS England said it is expanding the pilot programme across the country to benefit 42 more NHS trusts.
The programme is part of the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan ambition to retain up to 128,000 more staff over the next 15 years in addition to training record
numbers of doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals.
Under this new initiative, NHS staff are being offered extra flexibility with working hours, clinical 'support squads' have been introduced to help menopausal
women at work, and HR 'stay advocates' are designated to identify ways to keep staff on the brink of leaving.
Community Pharmacy England (CPE) has reminded community pharmacy owners that the deadline to complete the 2023/24 Data Security and Protection Toolkit to
make their information governance (IG) declaration is 30 June 2024.
Sometimes referred to as the "NHS IG toolkit", the DSPT is a set of security requirements that companies are required to fulfill to supply goods and services to
the health service to ensure the safety and protection of sensitive patient information.
To help community pharmacy contractors complete the mandatory questions within the Toolkit, CPE on Monday (12 February) published new guidance, which also contains
references to other useful materials.
CPE is working with the NHS DSPTK team to keep the workload associated with Toolkit completion manageable whilst ensuring that appropriate data security protections
are maintained.
Pharmacy owners with three or more pharmacies can complete a single submission for all their premises through the NHS Parent Organisation Code (POC) headquarters
(HQ) batch submission feature.
The NHS has made major improvements across long waits, urgent and emergency services, and cancer care, latest performance figures published on Thursday (11)
have shown.
The number of patients waiting more than 18 months fell to 10,737 by April - down by more than 90 per cent from 124,911 in September 2021 and by more than four-fifths
since the start of January when there were 54,882.
Around half of NHS trusts in England have no patients on their elective care waiting lists apart from those who have chosen to wait longer. More than one in
five (21%) trusts had completely eliminated 18-month waits.
However, the overall waiting list has risen to over 7.3 million entries in England.
"I promised I would cut NHS waiting lists and we are delivering," Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said. "Reducing 18-month waits by over 90 per cent is huge progress,
and it is testament to the hard work of NHS staff who have achieved this despite one of the busiest winters on record.
"We still have work to do, but backed by record government investment and the ongoing efforts of the NHS, I am confident we will get patients the care they need
more quickly."
Ambulance response rates have improved to their fastest in two years, with average category two response times now at 28.5 minutes and category one at 8 mins.
The 62-day cancer backlog has fallen for the first time since before the pandemic, with those waiting two months or more down from 21,823 at the end of the last
financial year (March 2022) to 19,248 at the end of this March (2023). This is down almost 15,000 from a peak of 34,000 in July 2022.
Staff shortage has begun to bite the community pharmacy sector with several high street pharmacies closing doors due to workforce crisis triggered by the NHS poaching.
More than 200 pharmacies closed last year and several are reducing their hours, posing a significant risk to patients' access to care, medicines and advice.
Many in the industry have raised concerns related to workforce crisis and warned that plans for community pharmacies to help ease pressure on GP surgeries could also take a hit.
The NHS plans to recruit a total of 6,000 pharmacists in England by 2024, equivalent to nearly three full years of new pharmacists.
Since 2019, 3,000 pharmacists have been recruited into NHS primary care networks, which accounts for around 10 per cent of the community pharmacist workforce.
Community pharmacy teams have administered almost 4.8 million flu vaccinations under the NHS Flu Vaccination Service in 2021-22, which is 73 per cent more
more than the 2.8 million vaccines administered last season.
Data received so far from PharmOutcomes and Sonar Informatics has confirmed that pharmacy teams have administered 4,793,124 vaccinations, although the total number
will be even higher as some data are still awaited and some pharmacy teams have not used the electronic systems to record administration of vaccines.
The Flu Vaccination Service 2021-22 ended on March 31, 2022 and the total number of vaccinations administered (which will include the figures from pharmacy teams
who did not use electronic systems to record administration of vaccines) is expected to be published later in the year by the NHS Business Services Authority.
The consequences of NHS workforce crisis is not limited to general practice, community pharmacies are also suffering, commented Community Pharmacy England
after the General Medical Council (GMC) published a report on Friday (23 June) which warned of the burnout in the workforce.
The report calls for urgent actions to break a 'vicious cycle' of unmanageable workloads, dissatisfaction and burnout that is causing UK doctors to take steps to
quit.
Chief Executive Janet Morrison, said: "The GMC's report is yet another clear signal of the scale of the mounting the NHS workforce crisis, and this is not limited
to general practice: community pharmacies are also suffering the consequences of it."
"Pharmacy teams are overstretched, feeling immense pressures, and dealing with significantly increased workloads. Pharmacy owners are also finding it impossible to
make ends meet, not least given the rising staffing costs which are being driven up by workforce issues.
Findings show the number of doctors who reported working beyond their rostered hours on a weekly basis rose from 59% in 2021 to 70% in 2022, and 42% said they felt
unable to cope with their workload each week (up from 30% in 2021). Just half said they were satisfied in their work, down from 70% in 2021.
The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) and NHS England have agreed that community pharmacy contractors will have to participate in one
mandatory national health campaign.
This campaign on weight management commenced from Tuesday (03 January) and will run until Sunday (29January).
PSNC said: "Pharmacies can be required to participate in up to six health campaigns at the request of NHS England per year (1st April to 31st March).
Pharmacies will be involved by displaying and distributing leaflets provided by NHS England.
In addition, pharmacies are required to undertake prescription-linked interventions on major areas of public health concern, such as encouraging smoking cessation.
"Contractors can order pharmacy specific posters, wallet cards ('info' cards with a QR code signposting people to the Better Health website and free tips and tools
to lose weight) and a dispenser for these cards on the Campaign Resource Centre website. A guidance leaflet to support community pharmacy teams' conversations with
patients is also available," said PSNC.
Pharmacy bodies have urged the Health Select Committee to hold the government to account on pharmacy funding and workforce challenges.
In a show of unity, leaders from the sector came together to write a joint letter to the chair of the committee and former health secretary Jeremy Hunt and bring to
his attention how financial pressures worsened by nearly a decade of a real-term decrease in funding have made the sector virtually untenable.
The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC)'s recently published 'Pharmacy Pressures Survey' confirms how this has had an impact on pharmacy contractors,
their teams as well as patients.
The survey found that 91 per cent of pharmacies are experiencing staff shortages. At the same time, demand for community pharmacists has risen - nine in ten pharmacy
teams reported a significant increase in phone calls from patients about prescriptions, and 86 per cent reported a rise in requests for healthcare advice.
The letter to Jeremy Hunt is signed on behalf of the four chief executives of the PSNC, the Association of Independent Multiple Pharmacies (AIMp), the Company
Chemists' Association (CCA) and the National Pharmacy Association (NPA).
In response to concerns raised by pharmacy owners, the government has decided to adjust the August threshold for the Pharmacy First service from 20 to 15
clinical pathways.
The ability of pharmacy owners to achieve the thresholds for the monthly Pharmacy First payments has been a topic of great concern.
Community Pharmacy England (CPE) has been actively discussing this issue over the last few weeks with the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England.
Ministers have now decided to adjust the August threshold for the Pharmacy First service to 15, CPE announced today (July 31).
Commenting on this decision, Janet Morrison, CEO of Community Pharmacy England said: "We are pleased that Ministers have listened to our concerns and acted quickly
to make an adjustment so soon after coming into office."
NHS cancer check has set a new record, despite pressures on hospitals due to Covid-19, the number of people being treated for the cancer remained higher than
before the pandemic, revealed NHS.
Over the last 12 months almost three million people were referred for cancer checks which is up by over a tenth on the 2.4 million people referred before the
pandemic.
"Even at the peak of the Omicron wave, referrals for suspected cancer were at 116 per cent of pre-pandemic levels with around 11,000 people getting checked every
day over the last year," said NHS.
In order to meet increasing demand for cancer checks, NHS services across the country are expanding their diagnostic capabilities through one stop shops for tests,
mobile clinics and cancer symptom hotlines, ensuring people are diagnosed and treated as early as possible to give them a much better chance of beating the disease.
More than 30,000 people every month are being invited for lung cancer checks through NHS mobile trucks visiting at risk communities across the country, as part of
the biggest programme to improve early lung cancer diagnosis in health service history.
Trade bodies have reiterated the call for more funding in response to the reports that ministers are considering a Pharmacy First scheme amid the NHS strike.
The Sunday Telegraph reported that pharmacies could be drafted in to help the NHS to cope when other healthcare workers take industrial action.
But, a PSNC committee member has warned on Monday that the government suggestions are "categorically impossible" without extra funding.
The Company Chemists' Association (CCA) has echoed the sentiment, saying pharmacy network is on the brink of collapse.
"We welcome plans for a Pharmacy First scheme in England. However, after eight years of funding cuts, the pressures on community pharmacies are simply untenable,"
Malcolm Harrison, chief executive of the CCA, said.
A recent Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) survey revealed that 80 per cent of its member working in the NHS in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland
rejected the NHS pay award.
"For the first time in the history of our union, members have told us they are so angry that they would not rule out industrial action in conjunction with other
NHS unions," said Paul Moloney, PDA Union national officer.
"It is important that, whoever is to lead the government, they listen to this message and act now to ensure our members and others in the NHS do not face swinging
cuts to their standard of living."
PDA members were asked whether they would support industrial action if they had rejected the award and if other NHS unions would be taking industrial action. 58 per
cent of those responding said they would support the PDA Union taking industrial action if members of other unions were also planning to take action on this issue.
For now, however, the PDA Union will wait for other unions to publish the outcomes of their own consultations. As a union dedicated to representing the needs of only
pharmacists, the PDA has been able to quickly survey members immediately after the pay award was announced.
Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) has asked the government and the NHS to give more support to all community pharmacies as they gear up for "an extremely challenging winter period."
During talks with NHS England and NHS Improvement (NHSE&I) and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) last week, PSNC highlighted that contractors are already under pressure because of workforce crisis, capacity issues and escalated staffing costs.
all these factors could pose a bigger challenge during the busy winter season, it said.
Though PSNC supported the government's aim on booster vaccinations and approval of more pharmacy sites, it expressed concerns over the impact of the vaccination drive on all community pharmacies.
To ease the pressure on pharmacies, the negotiator has sought additional support through regulatory measures, the removal of administrative burdens and changes
to the current Pharmacy Quality Scheme (PQS).
The Pharmacists' Defence Association has called on the Scottish government to end unnecessary pharmacy closures and introduce emergency regulations to force
companies that operate Scotland's pharmacies to open on the days and hours they have agreed.
It is concerned that decisions made by some health boards in Scotland have now allowed pharmacy owners to close their pharmacies on Saturdays.
The PDA is worried that a pharmacy closure could have negative impact on patients and other parts of the NHS, including neighbouring pharmacies, addiction and mental
health services, and minor injury and A&E units.
The association claims that there are record numbers of registered pharmacists who are available to work and therefore a decision to close a pharmacy over staff
shortages is misleading.
"The business owners may claim there is a shortage of pharmacists, but when they actively cancel agreed hours of work it does not suggest there is a shortfall of
workers," said the PDA, adding: "These business decisions often include closing their pharmacies at very short notice, even when pharmacists are available and willing
to work."
