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Well Pharmacy has acquired three new pharmacies taking the total number of pharmacies owned by the chain across the UK to 746. The UK's largest independent and third largest pharmacy chain has bought Pharmacy Express in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, and two Frosts Pharmacy's in Banbury, North Oxfordshire, and Marston, near Oxford. All three pharmacies will be rebranded. # Well did not disclose the amount it paid for the new acquisitions. Operations director of Well Pharmacy Louis Purchase said that the group was "excited" to expand. "We believe passionately in community pharmacy, and we want our offering to be the best experience of this in the UK. We also hope our new colleagues can keep progressing and develop their clinical skills even further by being part of Well Pharmacy." Frosts Pharmacy teams have joined Well from their pharmacies based in Ferriston, Banbury, North Oxfordshire and Marston, near Oxford. They both serve local people from the heart of their communities and offer a successful travel vaccination clinic in Marston.

Increased cooperation between countries is needed to ensure better regulation of online pharmacies, said authors of a new report - 'Online pharmacy operations and distribution of medicines', published by the International Pharmaceutical Federation's (FIP) Community Pharmacy Section. The report presents findings of a global survey of pharmacy organisations covering various aspects, such as type of medicines supplied by these pharmacies in different countries, how the authenticity of online pharmacies can be verified, and the usage of e-prescriptions and shared patient health records. Of the 79 countries responding to the survey, 51 per cent acknowledged that no regulation of online pharmacies exists. A quarter of the respondents reported cases of irresponsible self-medication by consumers who had purchased medicines through online pharmacies. A lack of regulation creates "an avenue for illegal pharmacies and may impact the overall quality of medicines and services offered to consumers," authors of the report said. Lars-Åke Söderlund, immediate past president of FIP's Community Pharmacy Section and co-editor of the report, said that the pandemic has increased preference for online services, including in the pharmacy sector.

A winter NHS crisis is inevitable unless the government acts now to reverse the worrying decline in community pharmacies. Years of government underfunding could see 3,000 pharmacies in England - around a third of the network - having no option but to shut their doors to patients in the next few years. That figure is based on independent assessments from Ernst & Young and UCL/LSE healthcare professors: it is not scaremongering - it is the reality the country faces. Fifty per cent of pharmacies are already in financial distress because government funding has been falling in real terms since 2019 and that figure is predicted to rise to 75 per cent within the next two years. The government needs to act now and invest in pharmacy or sleepwalk into a healthcare disaster as we have seen with access to dentistry care. Prescription volumes have risen consistently year-on-year by roughly 2 per cent which means fewer pharmacies doing more work and under greater pressure than a decade ago. Ten years ago around 11,200 pharmacies in England were dispensing roughly 79,000 prescriptions; nowadays around 11,500 are dispensing roughly 89,000 prescriptions. The secretary of state recently asked pharmacy to do more to avoid a winter NHS crisis and at the same time said there will be no new money to pay for those additional services. This at a time when the network is in decline with random unplanned pharmacy closures - 640 closures since 2016 - and pharmacy staff face huge workload pressures as prescription demand is increasing year-on-year. The government's approach to pharmacy literally does not add up: the pharmacy contract is not fit-for-purpose now let alone dealing with a NHS winter crisis.

Pharmacy Business will be hosting their annual awards event in the pharmacy calendar with a glittering ceremony to celebrate the very best of community pharmacy. The 23rd edition of the Pharmacy Business Awards will be on Wednesday 4 October 2023 in central London. The awards attract the biggest names in pharmacy, with heads of pharmacy organisations, CEOs of leading manufacturers and wholesalers, health officials and government ministers in attendance. We look forward to bringing together the shining lights of community pharmacy, who show the nation the unique services they continue to provide. REASONS TO ATTEND Understand what the ambitions of the NHS and PSNC are for the future of community pharmacy Understand why its important to develop a wider range of health services Learn how others are achieving this and what the benefits can be Learn what the benefits of embracing technological innovations are Hear what others are doing and what the benefits are to their business Network with and learn from your peers in community pharmacy WHO SHOULD ATTEND? Pharmacy owners Pharmacy managers Other pharmacy stakeholders Exciting news! Pharmacy Business Awards 2023 are just around the corner!

England's chief pharmaceutical officer (CPhO) David Webb has promised his "wholehearted support" for the community pharmacy sector at the board meeting of the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) on 28 June in St Albans. After hearing the CPhO at the meeting, NPA chair, Andrew Lane, later declared: "David is someone we can do business with." Webb thus listed his priorities as head of profession: integration of independent prescribing as part of pharmacy practice by 2026; promotion of inclusive pharmacy practice for all pharmacy professionals; assurance of post-registration practice; developing the role of pharmacy technicians; support for Integrated Care Systems and Primary Care Network pharmacy teams (including community pharmacy); medicines optimisation; and strengthening of professional leadership for community pharmacy. He also reported that NHS England had recently increased its team of regional pharmacy integration leads from seven to 14, creating seven new senior posts. Webb told NPA board members: "I want sincerely to thank community pharmacy teams for everything they are doing and to say that you have my wholehearted support. I believe in the importance of community pharmacy and will listen and engage as I've already demonstrated.

National pharmacy bodies have called on the government and NHS leaders to take appropriate action to keep pharmacy teams safe from violence and abuse. The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) - in collaboration with the Association of Independent Multiple Pharmacies (AIMp), the Company Chemists' Association (CCA), the National Pharmacy Association (NPA), and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) - is supporting an important petition started by Mike Hewitson, a community pharmacy contractor, who has been threatened with stabbing and robbed in his own pharmacy. The PSNC and the other national pharmacy bodies strongly believe that no healthcare professional should have to deal with this, that and pharmacists and their teams should be better protected. It said: "Community pharmacies play an integral role in the delivery of primary care and most patients are highly appreciative of the hard work of local pharmacists and pharmacy teams from dispensing medicines and administering vaccines to providing medical advice and health monitoring services.

Charac, an NHS-integrated one-stop platform for independent community pharmacies, and Positive Solutions, the fastest growing pharmacy IT provider in the UK, have agreed on a collaboration to support community pharmacies through new integrated technology platform - MyHealthHub. The tech platform aims to give pharmacies a powerful and compelling tool to both help retain and attract new patients. The app will also allow the over 7,200 independent high street pharmacies which are lacking a digital footprint to compete with larger online pharmacies by providing them with an online presence. The long-term strategic partnership brings together Charac's innovative approach to patient relationship management and Positive Solutions trusted expertise in digital solutions for pharmacy. With Positive Solutions' Analyst PMR used daily by 16,000 pharmacy team members to process over 87 million scripts and 180 million items, the collaboration will help transform patient engagement and continue driving service business to pharmacies across the UK using a new innovative, integrative technology platform, MyHealthHub. MyHealthHub will not only integrate with Analyst PMR, but also forms part of an entire new technology ecosystem from Positive Solutions, the Hx platform and will be entirely interoperable.

Stone Pharmacy in Barnsley, South Yorkshire has been sold to existing operator, Livesey Healthcare, which owns another pharmacy in East Lancashire for an undisclosed price. Stone Pharmacy is a well-established, 100-hour community pharmacy that is run under full management with a locum Pharmacist, and dispenses an average of 22,000 items per month. The business adjoins Garland House surgery in the South Yorkshire village of Darfield, which is circa six miles east of Barnsley and circa 14 miles north of Sheffield. The pharmacy has been owned by experienced operators, Khuram Akhtar and Mohammed Ali, trading as MEDS2U Ltd, for the last seven years, and was recently brought to market to allow the pair to pursue new ventures both in and out of community pharmacy. Khuram Akhtar, former owner of Stone Pharmacy, commented: "The business at Stone Pharmacy has been a fantastic enterprise for many years for us, with limited competition and a position central to the local community we have always enjoyed the support of the nearby population and are pleased that it is now in the hands of experienced operators who can build on that foundation with the expansion of new services.

NHS England has commissioned the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) to develop guidance that helps community and hospital pharmacy teams across Britain to reduce the impact of pharmacy services, pharmaceutical care and medicines on the environment. The RPS said the Greener Pharmacy Guidance will enable pharmacies to self-assess their impact against the standards, benchmark and improve through evidence-based activities and actions. "I'm delighted our strong commitment to helping pharmacy reduce its environmental impact can now be taken to the next level through developing guidance and accreditation for pharmacy teams," RPS president Professor Claire Anderson said. "Medicines account for 25 per cent of carbon emissions within the NHS and this initiative underscores our commitment to promoting sustainable healthcare and supporting the NHS's goal of achieving 'net zero' emissions by 2040." Peter Morgan, medicines assistant director at NHS England, commented: "Pharmacy staff are involved in the purchasing and dispensing of almost every medicine used in the NHS and the new Greener Pharmacy Guidance and Self-accreditation scheme will provide support for pharmacy professionals by outlining clear actions to deliver more environmentally sustainable pharmacy practices." The RPS said the guidance and digital self-assessment toolkit will integrate with carbon calculator tools to help pharmacy teams to measure their carbon footprint, action plan to reduce use of carbon and improve sustainability.

Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting outlined his plans for NHS reform on Friday (21 April), where he also mentioned a desire to see pharmacies take on more workload and pharmacists' clinical skills to be better utilised. In his speech, he also expressed concern at warnings from the pharmacy sector and pharmacy closures. The Company Chemists' Association (CCA) appreciated Shadow Health Secretary's desire to enhance pharmacies' role in primary care reform but also stated that the sector is in urgently needs a funding injection. Dr. Nick Thayer, Head of Policy at the Company Chemists' Association (CCA) comment: "We are pleased to see the Shadow Health Secretary recognise the enhanced role that pharmacies should play in primary care reform. Mr Streeting wants to see care brought closer to people's homes and more front doors into the NHS. With 89.2% of the population located within a 20-minute walk of a pharmacy, pharmacies do just that. They are essential to realising his vision of a 'neighbourhood health service'. Pharmacies could free up over 42m GP appointments annually, including 10m vaccination appointments. Urgent same-day appointments for minor conditions in pharmacies will immediately benefit patients by increasing GP access. The first step is for the Government to immediately commission a fully-funded Pharmacy First service in England.

A group of 21 community pharmacies in the Midlands and Yorkshire will have a new name - Pickfords Pharmacy. The group has been created by combining three independent pharmacy businesses which traded as Mr Pickford's, McGills Pharmacy and D&R Sharp. All pharmacies in the new group will be rebranded over the coming months, with a series of launch events planned by local teams. Speaking after the unveiling of the first branch to receive new signage in Hexthorpe Doncaster, Mimi Lau, Pickfords Pharmacy's chief operating officer, said: "This is a turning point for the group, with all our pharmacies operating under one name with a consistent, contemporary brand. "Initial reaction has been fantastic and very soon the name Pickfords Pharmacy will be widely recognised for the great service we deliver to customers and patients every day." Speaking of the consolidation, Nick Yarrow, the newly appointed group chief executive officer, commented: "Since the enlarged group came together last year, we have been striving to ensure that the best elements of each business have been retained for the benefit of our customers and team members. "This is part of our journey to be more than just a pharmacy - we want to be a trusted source of healthcare services at the heart of each one of the communities we serve".

The Association of Independent Multiple Pharmacies (AIMp) and senior official of NHS Property Services (NHSPS) had a meeting on August 18 to review the rent policy for health centre pharmacies. Earlier, the association had sent a letter to NHSPS that was signed by pharmacies from across the sector, including single independents, pharmacy groups and members of the Company Chemists' Association. The letter outlined concerns about rent reviews and the impact of it on the co-located health centre pharmacies. Dr Leyla Hannbeck, CEO of AIMp, said: "We outlined that whilst in the past, the norm established by the industry, was to base rents for co-located pharmacies primarily based on patient list size, (and taking account of a few other factors), the industry now needs to revise the basis on which rents are determined for co-located pharmacies." The association, on behalf of the pharmacy sector, met the CEO of NHSPS and two of their senior directors (director or property management and their finance director).

Two dozen parliamentarians from across the political spectrum have called on the prime minister to act as a wave of pharmacy closures in recent years has threatened to spiral out of control. A letter to the prime minister signed by 24 MPs and peers has warned that worse could be yet to come after "spiralling business costs" and "year after year of real terms funding cuts" have led to hundreds of pharmacy closures. New data from the PSNC shows that over 639 local pharmacies have been lost in England since 2016. "This is the equivalent to just short of one pharmacy closure per constituency", the cross-party group warned. The letter comes as MPs came together at a parliamentary summit to call for pharmacies to be embraced as a "game-changer" for tackling healthcare backlogs and taking pressure off other areas of the NHS. A 'Future of Pharmacy' event was attended by 53 parliamentarians on July 5 in the Palace of Westminster. At the event parliamentarians heard directly from frontline pharmacists and representatives of pharmacy bodies where a map of constituency-specific pharmacy numbers was also unveiled, with details of the number of pharmacy closures in MPs' local area.

Well Pharmacy has announced the acquisition of Lexon UK Holdings and Asurex Limited, a family-owned pharmaceutical wholesaler with five depots in Redditch, Leeds, Durham, East Kilbride and Dublin and a network of community pharmacies across the Midlands, Northwest, and Northeast of England. Lexon, is a family-owned business which has been in operation for over 25 years, running primarily as a pharmaceutical wholesaler for 3,000 retail pharmacy customers across the UK and Ireland. The business also operates 42 community pharmacies - currently trading as Knights Pharmacy - and is also a specialist developer and manufacturer of generic pharmaceuticals and is a data and solutions provider to pharmacy. The acquisition will be notified to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). Both parties have proactively engaged with the CMA in pre-notification discussions and look forward to continuing to do so productively during the CMA review period. Haider Choudrey, CFO of Bestway Group which own Well Pharmacy, said: "Through this acquisition we seek to augment our growth momentum and bring in even greater benefits to both community pharmacies and patients. Well Pharmacy had been searching for a target to expand its footprint and complement its growth trajectory and we are confident that Lexon fits this criterion."

The National Pharmacy Association (NPA) has partnered with training provider Skills 4 Pharmacy to provide Level 2 and Level 3 pharmacy apprenticeships to its members in England. Skills 4 Pharmacy is an experienced pharmacy apprenticeship training provider dedicated to initiating and developing the careers of pharmacy support staff and technicians. They manage the recruitment of apprentices, as well as their enrolment and training. The apprenticeship package offers a Level 2 Apprenticeship - Pharmacy support worker and Level 3 Apprenticeship - Pharmacy technician. Amerjit Singh, Managing Director at Skills 4 Pharmacy said: "As a member for the last 23 years it is a great honour to be able to work alongside the NPA and promote apprenticeships. "As contractors we are facing challenging times, however I firmly believe that apprenticeship programmes which upskill and empower our workforce are essential for our future survival. Apprenticeships are a great way to build a strong talent pipeline and bring new skills to pharmacies.

Lloyds Pharmacy's closure of all its 1,300 branches will wake-up the ministers and NHS officials to the reality of community pharmacy sector in England has reached crisis point, expressed Nigel Swift Managing Director of Rowlands pharmacy and Deputy Managing Director of PHOENIX UK. On Friday, The SUN reported that the UK's second largest pharmacy provider - is allegedly in the process of selling its entire estate of 1300 branches. Lloyds Pharmacy will no longer be a High Street presence following its decision to put all its pharmacy branches at the risk of closure. In January it has announced to close its 237 Sainsbury-based pharmacies. Nigel highlighted the fact that community pharmacy is struggling due to insufficient government funding and immense pressures on GPs and A&E departments - an ongoing issue which poses a very real threat to the sector. Commenting on the announcement, he said: "It's not just Lloyds - an independent analysis by Ernst & Young estimated that 75% of community pharmacies will be in financial distress in the coming years. £750 million has been taken out of the English contract due to inflation since it began."

The national pharmacy bodies has created 'Save Our Pharmacies' campaign website to give new focus to calls for fair pharmacy funding in England. The newly launched site contains key messages for public, politicians and stakeholders, and hosts campaign resources to be used by pharmacy teams. The pharmacy bodies encourage members of the public and pharmacy teams to show their support for the campaign on social media, as well as signing the petition and contacting their local MPs about fair funding. A further resource in the form of a window poster is being printed and will shortly be mailed out to all community pharmacies in England. It is the latest output of a joint programme of work being coordinated by PSNC, CCA, AIM and the NPA.

Achieving the community pharmacy vision necessitates legal adjustments and additional funding beyond recent boosts, the pharmacy vision document published by Nuffield Trust and The King's Fund has revealed. It says community pharmacies in England must adapt to changing population needs amidst unprecedented health and care challenges. Commissioned by Community Pharmacy England, the report titled 'A Vision for Community Pharmacy', published on Sept. 19, is a result of almost a year of research and extensive consultation with the sector and wider stakeholders, advocating for community pharmacy. The think tanks detail a shift in the community pharmacy sector, highlighting how pharmacies can contribute to crucial policy objectives regarding population health, prevention, and the increasing demand in primary care. "The health and care needs of the population are evolving, and pharmacies in England, like all components of the health and care system, must adjust to address these changes," said Helen Buckingham, Director of Strategy at Nuffield Trust.

The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC)'s 2022 Pharmacy Advice Audit revealed that more than 1.2 million consultations a week - or 65 million a year - are now being carried out by community pharmacy teams in England. This is an increase from 2021, when the audit results suggested that in total pharmacies were providing 58 million consultations per year. PSNC has published the findings of the audit of over 4,000 community pharmacies carried out earlier this year. During the audit, 82,872 informal patient consultations were recorded, with the average pharmacy completing 19 consultations per day. This suggests that more than 1.2 million informal consultations are taking place in community pharmacies in England every week. The audit helped to quantify the number of informal referrals being made to pharmacies by GPs and NHS 111, with 7,774 informal patient referrals into pharmacy coming from these routes; grossed up to a national level that means 117,000 cases per week. These are all referrals that could and should have been made by the NHS Community Pharmacist Consultation Service (CPCS).

The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee on Tuesday (June 30) renamed itself as Community Pharmacy England, promising a "strengthened commitment" to champion and engage with the sector. "The name Community Pharmacy England better reflects the breadth of work that we do to both represent and support community pharmacies in England. We are their champion," the pharmacy negotiator said. Explaining that the rebranding exercise was in line with proposals put forward by the Review Steering Group (RSG), it said the rebrand was part of its Transforming Pharmacy Representation (TAPR) work and that it would signal the beginning of a "new engagement strategy" to build stronger relationships with pharmacy owners. "Becoming Community Pharmacy England is much more than a name change or a new logo, it is a driver for cultural change across our organisation. "Our members want us to be more authoritative, representative, and influential, and rebranding gives us a clearer and stronger voice, helping us to better speak out for community pharmacy."