CPE aims to reach an agreement on negotiations with DHSC and NHSE in July 

Community Pharmacy England (CPE) is aiming to reach an agreement with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and NHS England (NHSE) on negotiation with regards to expanded services and payment model in the pharmacy sector. 

Chief Executive Janet Morrison, said: “We are working at pace in negotiations with DHSC and NHSE. The process remains on track with the Government’s original timescale – i.e. aiming for agreement in July, with cross-government clearance later in July, and implementation from July through to September.”

CPE is involved in working groups on service expansion of Hypertension Case-Finding and the Pharmacy Contraception Scheme and service design for the Common Conditions Service; and are in in-depth negotiations on Payment models.  

These discussions critically look at the balance between funding core capacity and activity payments, how the funding streams will be distributed and how CPE will measure delivery and impact.

NHSE has been leading on the development of the PGD pathways for each of the 7 conditions, with external medical, pharmacy and other experts feeding into the process – pharmacy owners from the Community Pharmacy England Committee have also been involved but the discussions are clinically led to ensure they comply with NICE principles and concur with Antimicrobial Stewardship policy.

The association has also been represented on the Digital infrastructure working group led by NHSE with system suppliers working on interoperability of GP and Pharmacy systems to support pathways for the Common Conditions Service – these are essential to the service’s start date.

Morrison said: “The negotiations are complex and critical since we hope them to have implications for the foundations of the next contractual framework so it’s vital that we approach them with rigour and aim to future proof payment structures.  We are working at pace but the process and timing of negotiations are not in our gift – they involve a number of stakeholders across government and NHSE.”