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The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Pharmacy published a new report on Monday (January 23) that calls for "urgent action" to relieve funding pressure so there are "opportunities" for community pharmacy teams to deliver even more for their patients. The report highlights the need for a new "strategic vision" for pharmacy and highlights opportunities for the network to be empowered to deliver even more for patients. However, the manifesto also underlines that there are the very real risks that this opportunity may be lost if significant and ongoing pressures are not addressed. The recommendations are based on written and oral evidence gathered from frontline pharmacists, GPs, professional bodies and healthcare experts. To harness the potential of pharmacy, the report recommends the Government must take urgent action to relieve the funding pressures on the community pharmacy sector in the short term and review the long-term funding model for pharmacy. It also suggested the Government must harness the power of pharmacy to help the NHS deal with the COVID-19 backlog and the UK's growing healthcare challenges. It further recommended that future commissioning and funding must recognise that community pharmacy is the front door to the NHS for many patients.

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) has submitted evidence to the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Pharmacy inquiry into medicines shortages in England. In its submission, the organisation has called on the government to develop a national strategy to address medicine shortages and change legislation to allow community pharmacists to amend prescriptions when medicines are in short supply. Tase Oputu, RPS England Board chair, welcomed the inquiry, and emphasised that medicines shortages continue to impact patients and the work of pharmacists daily. The RPS's evidence draws on its report, Medicines Shortages: Solutions for Shelves, which examines the issue in detail. The report revealed that pharmacy teams are spending more time chasing medicines supplies, identifying and switching patients to alternative medicines, taking their time away from other clinical activities.