After the government announced to award pay rise to pubic sector workers, pharmacy trade bodies have expressed their disappointment at the neglect shown
towards funding crisis in community pharmacy.
The National Pharmacy Association (NPA) chair, Andrew Lane, said: "Our sector can't help but feel utterly neglected after seven years of crushing real terms cuts
to pharmacy funding, amounting to half a billion pounds, and no hint of any relief to come.
"This week's public sector pay awards, which include a large number of our health service colleagues, highlight that there's an unresolved funding crisis in
community pharmacy which needs urgent attention."
"Four months into this financial year, there is as yet no clarity even on current arrangements."
"After stepping up to tackle Covid and keep the wheels on the NHS, the sector deserves better than to be neglected in this way," Andrew opines.
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.
As part of a new blueprint for primary care, the government today (May 9) announced an investment of £645 million over two years to expand community pharmacy
services in England.
In a statement, NHS England said: "For the first time ever, patients who need prescription medication will be able to get it directly from a pharmacy, without a
GP appointment, for seven common conditions including earache, sore throat, or urinary tract infections."
Prime minister Rishi Sunak hopes that the measures will help end the "all-too stressful wait on the end of the phone for patients" by freeing up 15 million slots at
doctors' surgeries over the next two years.
"We will end the 8am rush and expand the services offered by pharmacies, meaning patients can get their medication quickly and easily," he said
Almost half a million women will no longer need to speak to a practice nurse or GP to access oral contraception and will instead be able to pop into their local
pharmacy for it, according to the government announcement.
Blood checks for people suffering from moderate risk of heart attack or stroke conducted in community pharmacies will more than double from 900,000 last year to
2.5 million next year.
NHS chief executive Amanda Pritchard said the "ambitious package" would help transform how care is provided within the health service "with pharmacies playing a
central role in managing the nation's health including providing lifesaving checks and medication for common conditions for the first time.
Digital pharmacy app Charac has raised over £1 million in debt and equity, bringing total funding to date for the London-based startup to £2.5m.
Pharmacy Business understands while the majority of the new finance, worth about £1.2 million, comes from the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) coffer, the
remainder is put forward by a number of individual pharmacy businesses.
The pharmacy sector is in a state of crisis, experiencing nearly two closures per week over the past two years, Charac said in a statement.
According to data from the NHS Business Services Authority, there are now only 11,026 community pharmacies in England, the lowest number since 2015. The current
crisis is attributed to escalating operational costs, a shortage of staff, and diminished government financial support.
The UK has witnessed a nearly 50 percent increase in pharmacy closures this year compared to the same period in 2023, which was already considered the
worst year in recent memory.
A new analysis by the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) revealed that 177 pharmacies closed their doors between January and April 2024, compared to 116 in the
same period last year. This is the equivalent of 10 local pharmacies shutting down every week.
Analysis of NHS figures by the NPA showed that 403 pharmacies closed their doors last year, nearly five times higher than the number that closed in 2022.
Since 2017, over 1,400 pharmacies have shut down across the UK.
Rising costs and declining real terms funding have led to the fastest rate of closures in decades, said the NPA, highlighting that "real terms funding has
decreased by 40 per cent over the last decade."
The National Pharmacy Association (NPA) survey revealed that 93 per cent of respondents experienced 'at least one month' of negative cash flow across their
pharmacy business in 2022.
Nine out of 10 pharmacy owners responding to NPA survey said they made a net loss dispensing medicines for the NHS during 2022, for at least one month of the year.
According to the poll, 48 per cent of them lost money on this core NHS service for six months or more. 45 per cent said their overall outgoings had exceeded overall
income in at least six months of the year.
NPA Chair Andrew Lane said: "This survey shows the bleak financial reality facing many independent pharmacies after years of underfunding. Dispensing at a loss and
negative cashflow is clearly unsustainable."
"This funding crisis must be addressed urgently or pharmacies will fall into a spiral of declining services and ultimately widespread closures, he added. "Tragically,
the story is playing out very much in line with independent research commissioned by the NPA last year, which warned of a nationwide financial emergency in our
sector."
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."
A total of 7,599 whooping cough cases have been recorded in England from January to May 2024, according to new data released by the UK Health Security Agency
(UKHSA).
In January 2024, there were 555 cases, followed by 920 in February, 1,427 in March, 2,106 in April, and 2,591 in May.
While the majority of cases (over 53 per cent) occurred in individuals aged 15 years or older, who typically experience milder symptoms, a significant number (262)
were reported in babies under 3 months old, who are at the highest risk of severe complications and death from whooping cough.
Since the outbreak began in November last year, there have been nine infant deaths (one in December 2023 and eight between January and May 2024).
Whooping cough, or pertussis, is a bacterial infection affecting the lungs. This cyclical disease peaks every 3 to 5 years, with the last increase seen in 2016.
As Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announces the forthcoming UK general election, pharmacy bodies are calling on all political parties to commit to solving the
issues facing the sector.
The next UK general election will be held on 4 July, Sunak announced it on Wednesday afternoon during a press conference outside 10 Downing Street.
"As the election is called it's imperative that any incoming government addresses the crisis in primary care and the looming cliff edge facing pharmacies, which
for millions of people are the front door to the NHS and a crucial source of frontline health care," said Paul Rees, Chief Executive of the National Pharmacy
Association (NPA).
Noting that the first responsibility of the government is to keep its people safe and healthy, he emphasised the importance of addressing the "deep funding gap
that is pushing record numbers of pharmacies to the edge of closure and beyond, exacerbating the issues of waiting lists for GPs and hospital care."
The English health secretary has fumbled the opportunity to prevent a crisis in the NHS this winter. She either does not understand or value the role of
community pharmacy as the third pillar of patient access to essential healthcare.
Her announcement that she wants community pharmacy to provide more services to take the strain off A&E departments and GP surgeries comes on the same day DHSC
announces no new long-term investment to sustain the sector.
Does she not understand that as a result of years of government underinvestment in England the network is in decline with random closures across the country? Too
many pharmacies are temporarily closed every day due to workforce shortages beyond the control of pharmacy owners.
Adding a new service here and there, even with some additional funding, does not address the longer term viability of the network which needs to know which patient
services it will be expected to provide over the next 10 years - not just the next few months - and how those will be adequately remunerated.
Asking more from our sector with no new investment is a strategy which is bound to fail. The pharmacy contract remains economically illiterate. The sector's finances
need open heart surgery not a couple of paracetamol tablets.
The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) has rejected Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and NHS England's proposal on price
concessions reform and relief measures to ease pressure on pharmacies.
The Committee called the proposal 'insufficient' to meet the sector's needs considering the impact of the current crisis, reflecting on the economic pressures
that accelerated through the autumn and winter.
The Ministers and other decision-makers have shown their interest in the potential role of community pharmacy, particularly in using a Pharmacy First approach
and making use of PGDs and the skills of independent prescribers.
But the Committee had made clear to them that without new money this is all a pipedream. "We need an urgent injection of funds into the sector, otherwise we will
continue to see a degradation of services and eventual collapse of the network. The Committee is clear that there is no further place for warm words while pharmacy
collapses," said PSNC.
The Committee reflected that the 5-year CPCF agreement had been based on working together to create the capacity and context necessary to deliver the shift towards
greater service delivery. Not only has that capacity-release not happened due to slow progress by Government, but pharmacies have also been burdened with these
additional, and insurmountable, challenges.
The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) has launched a four point plan at its parliamentary drop-in event for MPs and peers hosted on Tuesday
(15 November).
The event lasted for two hours, during which MPs had the opportunity to drop-in and have their blood pressure measured by pharmacists with experience of working on
the front-line and were briefed on the urgent need for action to address the pressures on the sector.
Outline of the four-point plan:
Resolve the funding squeeze: Community pharmacy needs an immediate funding uplift to prevent large-scale pharmacy closures, as well as emergency business relief to
get through this winter.
Tackle regulatory and other burdens: Pharmacies must be protected from medicines market shocks, supported to help them weather the workforce crisis, helped to free
up capacity and freed from red tape that does not enhance patient care.
Help pharmacies to expand their role in primary care: Pharmacies could do more to support the delivery of primary care for example through offering clinical services
for long-term conditions - like hypertension, diabetes and respiratory disease, supporting people to adopt healthier lifestyles and prevent the development of
long-term conditions, medicines optimisation, and a much wider variety of NHS vaccinations.
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.
The Pharmacy First service, set for launch in England at the end of January, is expected to help reduce some of the pressure on the National Health Service (NHS).
But the question is - Are pharmacists ready to take the extra workload amidst many issues community pharmacies are currently facing?
Nearly 50 per cent of pharmacy workers surveyed by ITV News said they do not feel confident they can provide the new services.
Pharmacy leaders told the British news channel that the industry is already in crisis, and they are facing a "potentially fatal cocktail" of rising prices, major
supply problems and a lack of funding.
Community Pharmacy England (CPE) highlighted the untapped potential of community pharmacies in the prevention and management of long-term conditions to
Conservative MPs during an event last week.
The roundtable discussion was attended by a select group of influential and supportive MPs alongside community pharmacy owners, the Chief Executive of Community
Pharmacy England, the Director of NHS Services, and patient representative group Healthwatch.
MPs in attendance included Steve Double, MP for St Austell and Newquay, who chaired the discussion; Will Quince MP, former Minister for Pharmacy, Derek Thomas
MP, Sir Peter Bottomley and Peter Aldous MP.
They talked about the current pressures and funding crisis in community pharmacy, exploring solutions on how this could be eased and the huge benefits that can
be unlocked.
There is a state of "emergency" across the community pharmacy sector, the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) has warned.
The organisation is holding a day of protest action, called 'One Day to #SaveOurPharmacies', on 20 June to draw attention to the sector's growing crisis.
During the protest, pharmacy teams across the UK are expected to take a range of symbolic actions - such as turning the lights out for a period, asking their
staff to wear black, blacking out windows, using the day to engage with patients, inviting parliamentary candidates and using #saveourpharmacies on social
media - signifying dark times for the beleaguered community pharmacy sector, the NPA said.
The organisation decided to choose 20 June for the protest as it marks the day from which the average pharmacy across the four nations will be "lossmaking
overall."
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was questioned whether he 'will take urgent action to prevent pharmacy closure'.
At Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs) in Parliament held on Wednesday (26 April) he replied, "we will continue to do everything we can to support community
pharmacies."
Labour MP for Knowsley and All-Party Pharmacy Group member, George Howarth said: "Given the chronic lack of capacity in the NHS, the Prime Minister will be aware
that community pharmacy can help deal with minor illnesses. But there is a problem on average 10 Pharmacy close every month in England."
Prime Minister was further asked "will he take urgent action to prevent further closing and commission a properly funded 'Pharmacy First' service for minor
illnesses?
Sunak replied: "I've been a wholehearted champion and believer in the role that community pharmacists can play. we want to make sure that they can do everything
to ease some of the pressures in primary care.
YouGov polling commissioned by the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) has revealed that majority of the people responding to the poll said
that they would be concern by the pharmacy closure in their locality.
The results show the extent of the public backing for a Pharmacy First approach - PSNC has been arguing that a fully-funded service would be beneficial for pharmacies,
patients and the wider NHS.
The poll witnessed 1,774 adults' participation from England. It showed 68 per cent of people agree that they would find it easier to seek health advice for common
conditions, such as skin conditions or indigestion, at a community pharmacy rather than a GP surgery. Only 11 per cent disagreed that this would be easier.
While 75 per cent of people agree that they would like to see community pharmacies offering more healthcare services such as treating urinary tract infections or
sore throats. Only 6 per cent strongly disagreed with this.
When asked how important, if at all, are the services provided by community pharmacies to them, their family, or community, 78 per cent indicted this was very
important. Only 14 per cent said this wasn't important.
77 per cent said they would be very concerned if the pharmacy they use most often were to close permanently. Only 19 per cent said they would not be very concerned.
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is pushing ahead with its plans to implement a new drug tariff from April 2024. However, this move has
sparked strong opposition from Community Pharmacy England (CPE), raising concerns about its potential impact on pharmacies and patients.
Earlier, it was announced that the April drug tariff will include the new 'Retrospective top-up payment for Concessionary prices, which will be applied
automatically for the products listed in Part VIIIE each quarter by the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA), according to the volume the contractor was
paid for.
However, CPE argued that the government has imposed these "untested" changes without their agreement, and strongly opposed them stating that "no recovery or
downward pressure on margin is acceptable given the financial fragility of community pharmacies."
Janet Morrison, chief executive of CPE, has voiced strong opposition to these changes, arguing that "any system expecting pharmacies to dispense at a loss"
jeopardises the sector's financial stability and compromises patient care.
Boots is reportedly closing another branch in Watton, Norfolk from January, after shutting its High Street branch in Gorleston last month.
The Boots store would be one of the four pharmacies expected to be closed next year in the county, which saw closures of six pharmacies in recent months,
according to a BBC report.
However, the retailer hasn't made any announcement regarding the Watton closure or commented on its decision to shut its Gorleston branch.
If the Boots' branch in Watton is closed, the town will be left with only one pharmacy to cater to the healthcare needs of a population of about 12,000, and
this is the concern people in the area have expressed.
Conservative councillor Tina Kiddell told BBC: "I do worry how they are going to cope, they're already incredibly overwhelmed now."