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."
Pharmacy2U has joined thousands of pharmacists in launching the new NHS Pharmacy First service in England.
The new service, which was first launched on 31 January 2024, enables pharmacists to treat seven common health conditions without the need for a GP appointment
or prescription.
Over 95 per cent of all community pharmacies in the country (10,265 in total) have signed up to provide the service, which is aimed at easing pressure on GP
services while giving patients quick and accessible care.
Under the Pharmacy First service, the online pharmacy is offering same-day appointments to manage six conditions: sinusitis, an infected insect bite, sore
throat, UTIs, shingles and impetigo.
Pharmacy2U's CEO Kevin Heath said that they support the initiative fully and that the service will play a major role in providing patients easy and direct
access to pharmacists.
Community Pharmacy England (CPE) CEO, Janet Morrison said that the negotiations for the £645 million investment pledged to community pharmacies in 2023-25
have concluded.
The government's primary care recovery plan is to be announced in a "few weeks" and negotiations for the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF) from April
2024 will begin.
She said: "We have finished the substantive discussions on the recovery plan but detailed discussions about implementation are ongoing and we are awaiting final
clearance from the Government and the NHS.
"We hope that we will be in a position to make an announcement in the next few weeks and that negotiations on the CPCF from April 2024 will commence soon after
that."
Morrison reminded attendees that the Primary Care Recovery Plan is "to improve access to primary care by investing £645 million over the remainder of the year".
Community pharmacy chain Jardines Pharmacy has partnered with patient relationship management platform Charac to launch a new app designed to digitalise
its services, enhance operational efficiency, and elevate customer satisfaction.
The app allows patients to order repeat prescriptions, access medicine home delivery and book consultations with their pharmacist all in one place, enabling
faster pharmacist-to-patient care.
By incorporating Charac's platform into its business, Jardines is able to boost prescription dispensing efficiency, helping reducing wait times for patients.
Additionally, its delivery feature enables patients to track their orders directly through the app, thereby streamlining the overall patient experience.
The app also minimises administrative and manual tasks for pharmacists, giving them more time to focus on helping patients and delivering the outstanding
customer service.
Patients of Jardines can also use the app to book appointments digitally for Pharmacy First consultations, blood pressure checks, earwax removal, travel
vaccinations, and emergency contraception services.
Santosh Sahu, Founder and CEO of Charac, said: "We are pleased to support Jardines Pharmacy and its patients across England. Our mission is to ensure that
community pharmacies are empowered to digitalise, making care easier and more accessible for patients.
Speaking at the SIGMA Conference 2023, Dr Leyla Hannbeck, CEO of the Association of Independent Multiple Pharmacies (AIMp), spoke about the increasing
number of prescriptions, lack of funding and other existing challenges.
Leyla explained how the pharmacy sector is facing immense challenges which are disrupting the delivery of services as well as impacting its growth.
She further spoke about the hub and spoke model, and how it is unable to solve the issues.
"Community pharmacies are clogged with prescription volume, and this is preventing them from supporting the wider NHS as well as offering services," she said.
She said that the prescription volumes have rocketed, while the number of pharmacies in England has declined from 11, 522 in the year 2021-22 to 11, 414 in 2022-23.
When it comes to Company Chemists' Association (CCA) pharmacies, there has been a loss of 1055 branches from 2022 to 2023.
Community Pharmacy England (CPE) Chief Executive, Janet Morrison met with the new Pharmacy Minister, Dame Andrea Leadsom MP this week and discussed a
range of critical topics, including funding and pressures.
Janet informed the minister that community pharmacies continue to face immense financial pressures, and highlighted the need for an improved core contract.
She told the minister that 35-50 per cent real term cuts and rising costs have led to closures, consolidations and cashflow.
This has weakened the capacity for the network to respond to displaced patients, increased risk in terms of the safety of medicine supply, and led to loss of
service for communities in the most deprived areas, she said.
Alitam Group, the 100-plus pharmacy store consolidation, has appointed Bharti Patel, the former group executive director of Avicenna to its executive board.
Patel, who was part of the leadership team at Avicenna until late 2021, brings with her a wealth of experience covering pharmaceuticals, multiple retail and independent pharmacy, homecare and NHS primary and secondary care.
In her early career, she worked at Lloyds Pharmacy, where she rose from a prescription medicines buyer to director of procurement over a period of eight years.
She is known in the industry for her strong leadership, commercial acumen and ability to create opportunities for innovation and strategic partnerships.
Alitam founder and CEO Feisal Nahaboo said in a statement that Patel's appointment will further strengthen the group's ability to deliver its transformative multi-billion-pound 'Pharmacy of the Future' concept.
Titan PMR has been accredited by the NHS to provide electronic prescription services (EPS) to dispensing doctors.
Over 1,000 of these doctors, who provide a vital service to almost 10 million people in rural communities, can now offer their patients the same level of benefits
and efficiencies that electronic prescriptions and Titan PMR have brought to pharmacies around the UK.
These features will also increase efficiency for dispensing doctors, who will reduce dispensing errors and improve organisation, increasing their capacity while
enjoying the ability to integrate with other technologies.
After a full year of testing, including six months of compliance testing at a practice in Cumbria, the new accreditation for Titan also has potential to help the
NHS fulfil its target of all prescriptions being issued electronically.
Currently written paper prescriptions from dispensing doctors account for around seven per cent of the total prescriptions in England - around 6.5 million each month.
"Until now dispensing doctor surgeries have basically been in the digital dark ages when it comes to dispensing medicines," said Tariq Muhammad, a tech entrepreneur
and CEO of Bristol-based Invatech Health, which developed Titan PMR.