The community pharmacy bodies, along with England's largest pharmacy chains, have urged the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak to resolve fund and workforce crisis
in the sector.
In the joint letter the Chief Executives of Association of Independent Multiple Pharmacies (AIMp), Company Chemists' Association (CCA), National Pharmacy Association
(NPA) and Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC), along with Boots, Lloydspharmacy, Well and Rowlands Pharmacy, said they are pleased to see Government
now recognising the key role that community pharmacy' could have in alleviating the strain on other NHS services.
However, the associations also warn that although the sector is ready to support, 'this will not be possible unless pharmacy is properly funded.'
Janet Morrison, PSNC Chief Executive, said: "The Prime Minister should also know that community pharmacies are also facing a crisis. They need sustainable investment,
urgently, if we are to avoid devasting consequences for pharmacies and for their patients."
The letter calls on Government to help pharmacy to resolve the funding, workforce and capacity issues engulfing the sector. It said: "Community pharmacies are in
crisis and after 7 years of 30% funding cuts have reached their limit."
Keith Ridge, who retired from the role of England's chief pharmaceutical officer this month, has written to the NHS regional directors regarding a package to empower community pharmacies to implement clinical services in their integrated care systems.
Though details about this letter are not available, Malcolm Harrison, chief executive officer of the Company Chemists' Association, welcomed the move saying: "It is a positive step towards the greater integration of community pharmacy care into the NHS.
"It is vital for the NHS that patients can benefit from the clinical care services set out in the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework."
Harrison, however, highlighted that while pharmacies are being pushed to do more, the efforts to introduce new clinical services should be supported with "sustainable funding and material actions to increase workforce numbers in the sector."
"We are concerned that without the funding and people in place, the desired volume of necessary services cannot be delivered, no matter how well coordinated."
The Conservative Party Prime Ministerial candidate Rishi Sunak visited Bassett Pharmacy in Southampton on Wednesday (Aug 24) - the pharmacy that used to be
run by his family.
During the visit, Sunak is reported to have said that he intends to reform the NHS and achieve value for money from health spending, should he become prime minister.
Giving his reaction to the visit, National Pharmacy Association (NPA) chief executive Mark Lyonette said: "If Rishi Sunak is serious about NHS reform, he would do
well to start with a 'pharmacy first' approach to prevention and treatment which has the potential to transform the way people access NHS care.
"That can only happen with a sustained increase in funding for our sector, which is facing much harder times now than it ever did when Mr Sunak's parents owned a
pharmacy years ago."
Earlier in the week, NPA board member Hiten Patel met the former chancellor when he visited West Harrow for a campaign event on August 23. Patel took the opportunity
to explain that pharmacies in England are not being properly supported to fulfil their potential within the NHS.
Community Pharmacy England (CPE) is gearing up to conduct a vital Pharmacy Advice Audit, calling on pharmacy owners and their teams to help measure the
increasing reliance on pharmacies within communities.
With years of financial strains impacting the sector, despite the much-needed £645 million recovery plan funding, the sector finds itself on the edge.
The launch of Pharmacy First sparked a notable surge in people seeking advice from community pharmacies, both within and beyond the funded service, as revealed
by recent sector polling.
To accurately assess this trend and advocate for sustainable funding, CPE is initiating an audit to gather data crucial for showcasing the extent of unfunded
care provided by community pharmacies.
Scheduled to commence this week, the Pharmacy Advice Audit will entail pharmacy teams documenting informal healthcare advice dispensed over a single day.
In a recent interview with The Telegraph, health secretary Steve Barclay stated that he has asked his officials within DHSC to look at a "pharmacy first"
approach to alleviate pressures on A&E departments in order to avoid the widely predicted NHS winter crisis.
On the face of it, this a welcome if long overdue recognition that community pharmacy is an essential part of our national healthcare infrastructure alongside our
GP and A&E colleagues. But let's not get carried away - we have had lots of praise from politicians in the past which have not then been backed by firm commitments
for a sustainable future for the network.
Could this be a turning point? I hope so, but I am not confident it will be. I fear this may turn out to be another emergency stop-gap measure which does nothing to
secure the long-term viability of the sector in England.
The role of community pharmacy during the recent Covid pandemic demonstrated clearly how important we are to ensure people have easy access to essential healthcare
support, advice and services. The NHS winter crisis can only be avoided or at least mitigated if the potential of the community pharmacy network to provide more
patient care services is unlocked and that Barclay requires you to end pharmacy funding austerity and start investing.
The Treasury will no doubt say there is no more money, but what then the alternative other than a NHS winter crisis? And, of course, treating people in secondary care
settings is far more costly than community pharmacy based interventions.
Community Pharmacy England (CPE), the Company Chemists' Association (CCA), the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) and the National Pharmacy Association
(NPA) on Tuesday (5 March) released a joint manifesto for community pharmacy in anticipation of the upcoming general election expected later this year.
The manifesto has been designed for widespread use within the community pharmacy sector to facilitate engagement with political parties and parliamentary candidates.
In their #VotePharmacy manifesto, the pharmacy bodies have highlighted a robust six-point plan to unleash the potential of pharmacy.
Election candidates are urged to express their support in six key areas, which include:
Filling the funding gap and committing to long-term sustainable funding to empower pharmacies to deliver more NHS care.
Enhancing the community pharmacy workforce to ensure they can meet the evolving needs of patients.
In a stirring address at the recent conference on Pharmacy at the Westminster Health Forum, Director of NHS Services at Community Pharmacy England (CPE),
Alastair Buxton presented a stark assessment of the community pharmacy sector's challenges.
Highlighting years of financial constraints imposed by the NHS and government, Buxton warned of a sector teetering on the edge of survival.
"There have been no years of financial and operational squeezes applied by the NHS and
government to the community pharmacy sector, so as a consequence, there are a lot of pharmacies that are on the on the brink of survival -battling for survival,"
he said.
Buxton underscored the critical and indispensable role of community pharmacies in delivering essential NHS services, from dispensing medications to innovative
initiatives like the Discharge Medicine Service and Contraception Service.
The Parliamentarians have called the government to urgently consider the short-term funding to stabilise the community pharmacy sector.
39 MPs and Peers from across the political spectrum have signed letters to the Health Secretary, Steve Barclay MP and raised their growing concern about the
pressures facing England's community pharmacies and the risks this poses to patient care and safety.
"Steve Barclay MP received correspondence from 23 Opposition MPs, with six Peers also signing a letter. Separately, 9 Conservative MPs also wrote to the Health
Secretary and up to 10 others have signalled their intention to write to the relevant Minister," said the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC).
The Parliamentarians acknowledged that pharmacies have the potential to do more to support the NHS and they called for the government to urgently consider a
commitment to working with the sector to create a fair and fit for purpose future funding model that ensures sustainability and properly funds pharmacies for what
they do.
All signatories also called for the introduction of a fairly-funded Pharmacy First service.
Community Pharmacy England (CPE) has cautioned that patients in the UK will continue to encounter difficulties in accessing medicines unless the government
addresses supply problems and resolves the critical financial state of community pharmacies.
CPE Chief Executive Janet Morrison and Mike Dent, Director of Pharmacy Funding, on Monday 19 February, gave evidence to the Health and Social Care Select
Committee's Pharmacy Inquiry, highlighting the impact of ongoing medicines supply issues on pharmacies and patients.
Morrison indicated that a combination of the ongoing "financial squeeze, operational pressures, and medicines supply and pricing issues" has left pharmacy
businesses fighting for survival.
"As the NHS continues to grapple with wider challenges, this is a battle that patients cannot afford for pharmacies to lose," she said.
Morrison warned that if pharmacies continue to close, not only business owners and pharmacy teams will suffer, but patients and local communities will also
face the consequences.
Health leaders have said that delivering faster and more productive patient care would be difficult unless NHS capital budgets are nearly doubled to
at least £14.1 billion from the current spending of £7.7 billion.
The NHS Confederation has highlighted the impact that low levels of capital investment have had over the last decade in its report published today (29 November).
The report, 'Investing to save: The capital requirement for a more sustainable NHS in England', revealed that the UK has lagged behind other comparable countries
in terms of health capital investment for more than five decades, resulting in less productivity.
It revealed that the NHS now has the sixth lowest number of CT and MRI scanners per million people of the OECD countries.
A group of 20 MPs from the different political parties, including Dame Priti Patel and Judith Cummins, have written a joint letter to health minister Andrea
Leadsom, calling for urgent action to address the pressures faced by community pharmacies.
Taking note of rising pharmacy closures, they have highlighted the need for more investment and support from the government.
Recent NHS figures showed that around 1,400 pharmacies have closed permanently since October 2016, and many more are withdrawing services or reducing their opening
hours, particularly in deprived areas.
The MPs have urged the pharmacy minister to commit to making essential changes including a fair and sustainable core funding model, an effective implementation of
the Pharmacy First service and an expansion into other clinical service areas.
The Independent Pharmacies Association (IPA), in collaboration with the Association of Optometrists (AOP), the British Dental Association (BDA) and the
NHS Confederation has written to health secretary Wes Streeting, urging him to ensure sustainable investment in primary care to strengthen the NHS and better
serve patients.
In their letter, the group congratulated Streeting on his recent appointment as Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and requested a meeting to provide
their joint constructive input towards improving health outcomes.
They expressed concern that recent administrations have failed to follow through on promises to properly integrate and fund primary care, leading to deteriorating
health outcomes.
"Our collective experience is that our National Health Service (NHS), and health outcomes generally, have suffered at the hands of recent administrations that have
talked much about the importance of properly integrating and funding primary care but not followed through with action," they wrote.
The associations emphasised the need to transition the NHS to a Neighbourhood Health Service, where more care is delivered within local communities to identify
problems earlier.
The Community Pharmacy England (CPE) has called the recent announcement of six per cent pay rise for the public sector workforce as 'unfair' for the
community pharmacy sector.
On Thursday (13 June), the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) announced that pay scales for most doctors and dentists will increase by at least a
six per cent this year after the government accepted the recommendations from the independent pay review bodies in full.
Responding to the recent announcement Chief Executive Janet Morrison, said: "The public sector workforce pay rise will be welcome news for its recipients given
the huge inflationary pressures and the ongoing impact of the cost-of-living crisis. But for community pharmacy owners - who have faced 30% funding cuts in recent
years and who are struggling to meet their rising wage costs - this feels unfair, and very far from good news.
At Community Pharmacy England we are fully focused on the current financial and operational pressures and fighting hard for a sustainable long-term funding
arrangement.
Since its launch on January 31st, the Pharmacy First service by the Company Chemists Association (CCA) has achieved a significant milestone, completing over
200,000 consultations to date.
This milestone underscores the service's vital role in providing same-day NHS care through community pharmacies across England.
Recent analysis by the CCA has revealed a pressing need to bolster GP referrals, with disparities observed between different Integrated Care System (ICS) areas,
resulting in what's described as a 'postcode lottery' for patients.
CCA Chief Executive, Malcolm Harrison, emphasised the importance of sustained funding for Pharmacy First beyond 2025, ensuring its availability for patients,
community pharmacies, and the wider NHS.
The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC)'s members are seeking immediate rescue packages for the sector to help with energy bills and to ease
capacity constraints.
In a meeting held on 14th and 15th September, the committee members expressed their anger and frustration on the reluctance of NHS England and government to fund
pharmacy sustainably.
The meeting was held to consider practical steps to ease the pressures on the community pharmacy sector, and to oversee the progress of negotiations on the Community
Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF) and other work.
Committee members, as pharmacy contractors, shared their experiences of the current pressures on all contractors, including the inability to deliver some services
and to maintain core service levels; the capacity and workforce crises facing the sector; the critical need for funding support this winter; and the urgent need for
Government to adapt the Price Concessions system to meet the needs of contractors.
"The Price Concessions system is no longer working for contractors in the current volatile medicine supply environment and PSNC is clear this is not acceptable,"
said the committee.
As the general election campaign heats up, major political parties - including Labour, the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats - have released their
manifestos, detailing their plans and visions for the future of community pharmacy.
While the Conservative Party promises to expand Pharmacy First initiative, Labour pledges support for small businesses, with plans to overhaul the business
rates system.
The Liberal Democrats' election manifesto commits to developing a fairer and more sustainable long-term funding model for pharmacies.
Announcing their plans recently, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak stated that they are investing in community care services to secure the future of the NHS and make
healthcare more accessible.
The Conservatives plan to fund these initiatives by cutting NHS managerial positions back to pre-pandemic levels and halving the government's management
consultancy expenditure.
Released on Monday morning, the election manifesto shared by the Liberal Democrats pledges to "strengthen patients' rights" by tackling public health
inequalities and providing early access to community services.
The Liberal Democrats Party's manifesto promises to address the issues at both the "front and back doors" of the National Health Service (NHS), which the party
claims has been plunged into crisis by the Conservatives.
Pledging to invest in public health and early access to community services, the party aims to "work towards a fairer and more sustainable long-term funding model
for pharmacies and build on the Pharmacy First approach to give patients more accessible routine services and ease the pressure on GPs."
The pledge also includes making prescriptions for people with chronic mental health conditions free on the NHS, as part of a wider commitment to review the entire
schedule of exemptions for prescription charges.