A survey of over six thousands pharmacies has revealed that the community pharmacy sector is buckling under growing cost and capacity pressures.
The survey conducted by the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee, which also involved two thousand community pharmacy confirms, rising costs, patient
demand and
medicine supply issues continue to grip the sector.
PSNC's 2023 Pharmacy Pressures Survey, run as a follow up to the 2022 pressures survey, provides clear comparative data showing the worsening situation across
the sector.
Govt must act now
The result of the survey indeed paints a bleak picture for community pharmacies and it is clear that without urgent action from government and the NHS this will
only get worse: more community pharmacies will either be forced to reduce the number of services they provide or, in the worst-case scenario, will be left with
no option but to close their doors for good.
The PSNC has urged the government to act now "to save our pharmacies, before it is too late for patients, the public, and the rest of the NHS".
"This year's survey clearly shows that community pharmacies are buckling under growing cost and capacity pressures," said PSNC Chief Executive Janet Morrison.
The results of the Community Pharmacy IT Group's (CP ITG's) IT arrangements survey revealed that 83 per cent of the respondents support the goal of going
paperless.
The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) asked community pharmacy teams to complete the survey between late 2021 and October 2022.
The survey was designed to gather information on frontline pharmacy teams' perspectives about community pharmacy IT and their pharmacies' IT arrangements.
It was found that more than half of pharmacies experience at least one IT outage per month (lasting at least one hour). Over 40% reported poor mobile phone signal
and limited internet connectivity options at their pharmacy. 80% agreed that mobile devices would help working within pharmacy, but most reported no laptop and no
tablet device available for use in the pharmacy
Community Pharmacy England (CPE) to host a Parliamentary drop-in event in July to brief MPs and Peers about the ongoing medicines supply chain issues that
are negatively affecting pharmacies and their patients across the country.
CPE's Pressures Survey earlier this year highlighted the extent of both the operational and financial impacts of medicines supply issues on pharmacy businesses,
therefore it has continued to hear from both pharmacy owners and others about the problems.
The event aims to ensure that MPs understand the problems and their impact on pharmacies.
Peter Dowd MP is hosting the event, joined by representatives from Community Pharmacy England, the Nuffield Trust, patient groups and more.
The event will also be another opportunity to talk to MPs from across the political spectrum about the very serious situation that community pharmacies still find
themselves in and the need for further investment in the sector.
Janet Morrison OBE, Chief executive of Community Pharmacy England said: "The results of our Pressures Survey earlier this year showed just how much supply issues
are continuing to negatively impact pharmacy businesses and all those who work in them. The survey found that almost all pharmacy owners (97%) are facing
significant increases in wholesaler and medicine supply issues, with 71% saying this was leading to delays in prescriptions being issued.
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.
The full-time equivalent community pharmacy workforce saw a 6 per cent decline in a year, while the overall number of pharmacists remains nearly constant,
according to NHS England's Community Pharmacy Workforce Survey 2022.
However, vacancy rates among pharmacists rose 16 percent, suggesting an increased reliance on locum pharmacists who, on average, work fewer hours, the data revealed.
According to NHSE, the mandated survey released (Aug. 3) achieved a 95 per cent completion rate among pharmacy contractors, marking a substantial increase compared
to only 47 per cent in the previous year.
The survey results indicate a shift in working patterns within community pharmacy, with locum pharmacists being utilised more frequently as part of the staffing model.
The survey revealed a 6 per cent decrease in the community pharmacy workforce across all roles combined. The number of full-time equivalent pharmacists working in
community pharmacy decreased by 2,411, from 20,255 in 2021 to 17,844 in 2022, the survey found.
The employed pharmacists decreased by 16 per cent from 12,774 in 2021 to 10,943 in 2022, while locum pharmacists increased by 26 per cent from 4,297 in 2021 to
5,477 in 2022, NHSE said.
Pharmacy owners have less than a week to complete the mandatory 2023 Community Pharmacy Workforce Survey, which closes on Sunday, December 17.
The NHS Business Services Authority sent an email with a survey link to pharmacy owners on October 23, 2023. In certain cases, such as Company Chemists'
Association member companies and other multiple pharmacy groups, head offices will centrally complete the survey.
"If you're unsure whether the survey will be completed centrally, please seek guidance from your head office," Community Pharmacy England has said.
Since 2022, completing the annual NHS England community pharmacy workforce survey has been a Terms of Service requirement for pharmacy owners.
Tough times for community pharmacies in England are far from over as the industry continues to grapple with major gaps in the workforce.
Even though the latest figures released by the Health Education England (HEE) Community Pharmacy Workforce Survey 2021 showed doubling of pharmacist vacancy rate in England to 8 per cent between 2017 and 2021, it flagged the contractors' difficulty level in filling up these positions.
The survey report showcased changes in the size and make-up of the community pharmacy workforce since the last survey conducted in 2017.
It revealed that 56 per cent of pharmacy contractors reported high difficulty level in recruiting pharmacists, up from 21 per cent in the earlier survey.
Moreover, a greater proportion - 60 per cent of contractors found filling up the pharmacy technician role 'fairly' or 'very' difficult.
Other roles in the sector considered difficult to fill included accuracy checkers and trained dispensing assistants, both at 58 per cent.
The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) has launched Pharmacy Pressures Survey 2023 to make case against the 'unprecedented financial and
operational challenges' faced by the community pharmacies in England.
The Committee has urged those working in or owns a community pharmacy to 'take part' in the survey.
"The survey results will be critical to help us to show Government and the NHS how difficult things now are for pharmacies, and to persuade them to take action. We
will be using the results in our negotiations, in our conversations with MPs, Ministers and in national media work as part of the joint #saveourpharmacies campaign,"
said PSNC.
The Pharmacy Pressures Survey is once again comprised of two surveys to give insight into both financial and operational pressures.
Together with the other national pharmacy organisations PSNC are working both to show policy makers the severity of the problems and to lobby for Government and NHS
action to ease the pressures.
Only a day is left before community pharmacy contractors are required to complete Health Education England's Community Pharmacy Workforce Survey for 2022.
The survey closes on Wednesday (November 30).
The completion requirements are mandatory and particularly pertinent at a time when workforce challenges have become a major issue within the sector. These pressures
are being acutely felt within community pharmacy, with serious consequences for pharmacy contractors.
PSNC and the other national pharmacy bodies have called for improved workforce planning to be undertaken by the government and NHS, but for this to happen, high
quality workforce data for community pharmacy needs to be available, which will then provide a full picture of the sector's workforce, including identifying the
number of vacancies and regions where these are particularly hard to fill.
Community pharmacies are being forced to halt certain NHS and public health services due to escalating financial and operational pressures, a recent survey
by Community Pharmacy England (CPE) has revealed.
In the survey conducted ahead of the June Committee Meeting, an overwhelming 96 per cent of pharmacy owners reported having stopped delivering locally
commissioned services over the past twelve months.
Additionally, nearly one-third of the pharmacies surveyed indicated they had discontinued providing some Advanced services.
The survey also revealed that pharmacy opening hours are being reduced, with 81 per cent of respondents stating they had to stop offering extended hours.
In 90 per cent of the cases, pharmacy owners had to cease employing locum pharmacists, likely due to cost constraints.
Furthermore, over 20 per cent of the more than 2,100 pharmacies surveyed reported having to discontinue the free delivery of prescription medicines to patients.
Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) has launched two surveys to gather data on the pressures that people working in community pharmacies are facing.
Pharmacy teams have informed the negotiator about the ongoing financial and operational pressures and expressed concerns that these pressures could impact patients' care.
The surveys would give a snapshot of the problems faced by pharmacies and the results will be used in ongoing discussions with NHS England & NHS Improvement and the Department of Health and Social Care.
The results will also help PSNC to make pharmacy's case in conversations with the MPs, ministers and the national media.
The two separate surveys are for:
Pharmacy business owners/head office representatives - This survey covers the pressures faced by businesses, including financial and staffing pressures.
Pharmacy teams - It covers the day-to-day pressures experienced by pharmacy teams including supply chain issues, patient interactions/experience and staff morale.
Ninety-six per cent of community pharmacists surveyed in the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) Workforce Wellbeing survey said they were at 'risk of burnout'.
A higher number of respondents working in community pharmacy (20%) reported not being offered breaks compared to all other sectors (8%) and were more likely to
experience verbal or physical abuse from patients and the public (69% vs an average 44%).
The annual Workforce Wellbeing survey also revealed that 88 per cent of pharmacists surveyed are at high risk of burnout due to winter pressure. Therefore, RPS is
calling for workforce planning for pharmacy to address skill mix and staffing levels so that workloads can be effectively managed.
Top factors causing poor mental health and wellbeing revealed by the survey include inadequate staffing (70%), lack of work/life balance (53%), lack of protected
learning time (48%) and lack of colleague/senior support (47%).
This is the fourth survey RPS has run in partnership with the charity Pharmacist Support on the state of mental health and wellbeing in pharmacy.
The findings demonstrate continued pressure on pharmacists and trainees across the workforce, especially in community pharmacy where 96% of those surveyed said they
were at risk of burnout.
Nuffield Trust and The King's Fund are seeking feedback from community pharmacy on their proposals for the future of community pharmacy and they are seeking
feedback from community pharmacy stakeholders.
The online survey is the latest opportunity for pharmacy owners, LPCs and others in the sector to engage with the project to develop a Vision for Community Pharmacy.
Nuffield Trust and The King's Fund want to hear their views on their proposals, ahead of the publication of the final report later this year. The vision is
critically important, as it will be used to develop the future strategy for the sector and lay the groundwork for the next Community Pharmacy Contractual
Framework (CPCF) negotiations.
The survey is asking for thoughts on key aspects of the vision and its recommendations. The vision has been developed by Nuffield Trust and The King's Fund
following an extensive programme of research, interviews and meetings of the vision Steering Group, Advisory Panel, and Working Groups, all of which have
contractors, LPCs and other representatives of the sector at their heart.
The vision project team are looking forward to hearing views from across the sector on their proposals and what will need to happen to make them a reality.
National pharmacy bodies have expressed their disappointment on the launch date for Tier 1 of the Pharmacy Contraception Service which has been announced by
NHS England (NHSE) as '24th April 2023′.
Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) said that this start date for the service has not been agreed with PSNC and is in direct contradiction of our
warning to Ministers that no new or expanded services can be rolled out in 2023/24 unless extra funding is put into community pharmacies.
Responding to this announcement, PSNC Chief Executive Janet Morrison said: "This is despite our warning last month that without additional funding, the roll-out of
Year 5 additional services and the Pharmacy Quality Scheme is neither feasible nor affordable. Community pharmacies are having to work harder and harder for less
money and many are at breaking point. And just this week the results of our 2023 Pharmacy Pressures Survey have confirmed the worsening situation.
Clearly our view is not because contractors don't see the benefit of the service. This is a much-anticipated service that could deliver real benefits to patients and
community pharmacies are always eager to support public health initiatives. But capacity in the sector is now so stretched that more money is needed to safely
resource additional work.
We have repeated our concerns to the Department in recent days and reminded them of the potential for a properly funded community pharmacy sector to play a greater
role in providing clinical solutions and relieving pressures elsewhere in primary care."
Community Pharmacy England (CPE) has launched its third annual Pressures Survey to uncover the various challenges encountered by individuals owning or
working in a community pharmacy.
The Committee expressed concern that community pharmacies in England are now in a critical situation, significantly affecting workload, stress levels, patients,
and businesses.
The 2024 Pharmacy Pressures Survey is aimed at finding out more about these issues and other areas such as medicines supply problems and workforce challenges as
well as the recently launched Pharmacy First service, it said.
CPE chief executive Janet Morrison said that they were able to receive a huge number of responses in previous surveys and they are expecting to achieve a similar
level of engagement this year too.
A recent survey conducted by YouGov for the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) has highlighted concerning trends in the community pharmacy sector.
The survey published on July 18 and conducted over two days in June this year reveals the subsequent challenges patients face due to the increasing pharmacy
closure rates.
The survey findings, conducted among 2,183 UK adults, indicates that 18 per cent of the respondents reported at least one pharmacy closure in their local area
within the past year.
Specifically, 12 per cent respondents noted closure of one pharmacy, while 6 per cent observed the shutdown of more than one.
These closures are distributed across various regions, underscoring a nationwide issue rather than an isolated one.
A snap survey conducted by the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) revealed that over half of community pharmacy teams have felt unsafe in the past week
due to ongoing riots across the country.
The survey, which included responses from approximately 350 community pharmacies, also found that one in three pharmacies had considered closing because of
safety concerns, while 13 per cent of pharmacy teams reported experiencing racist comments during this period.
According to the NPA, over 40 per cent of pharmacists are of South Asian, Black, or other ethnic minority backgrounds, with the majority of independent community
pharmacy owners believed to be of South Asian heritage.
The association reports that businesses had been vandalised during the riots, leading some pharmacies to reduce their opening hours or close entirely, following
advice from the police and local authorities.
Despite a recent decline in disorder over the last few days, police have been advised to remain on high alert over the weekend.
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).
Eighty-five per cent of adults responding to a survey commissioned by the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) have agreed that community pharmacies are
underfunded and that the sector needs more investment to be able to do the work it does.
The survey of 1,000+ adults in England was carried out online between August 26 and 30 by an agency called Research Without Barriers (RWB) on behalf of the NPA.
Pharmacies in England are now paid less for providing NHS services than they were before the Covid-19 pandemic, after years of real terms cuts.
Seventy-four per cent respondents think it's unfair that community pharmacies in England have had no increase in funding for eight years, despite rising business
costs.
When asked whether it's fair or unfair that pharmacies in England are now paid less for providing NHS services than they were before the pandemic, 81 per cent of
people replied that it's unfair.
Majority of the pharmacies are facing aggression from patients due to the medicine supply chain issue, a PSNC survey has revealed.
The Pharmacy Pressures Survey by the trade body has seen nearly 83 per cent of pharmacies reporting a significant increase in medicine supply issues in the past year,
leading to extra work and additional stress for staff.
The survey of over 5,000 pharmacy premises and 1,000 pharmacy team members in England took place in early 2022.
Two-thirds of respondents said that medicines supply chain issues are a daily occurrence, with 97 per cent reporting that this led to frustration from patients.
"The results of PSNC's Pressures Survey make distressing reading for anybody in the sector - they tell a story of teams under immense pressures, and of businesses at crisis point," said Janet Morrison, PSNC chief executive.