Each pharmacy in England suffers a funding shortfall of £100,000 every year
Community pharmacy is integral to accelerating the three shifts envisaged by the government, but concrete action is needed to address the current funding crisis - the Company Chemists’ Association (CCA) has stated in its response to the 10-year plan consultation.
The CCA highlighted a wide range of pharmacy services that could contribute to achieving the government’s vision shifting care from hospitals to community, from analogue to digital, and from treating sickness to prevention.
To strengthen the sector's role in prevention, it proposes expanding the pharmacy’s role in vaccination, screening, emergency hormonal contraception (EHC), and smoking cessation services.
Furthermore, the CCA’s submission noted that the expansion of Pharmacy First as “key to moving more care into the community.”
As of October 2024, pharmacies provided 1.4 million urgent care consultations for conditions that would have otherwise been treated elsewhere in the NHS, according to the organisation, which also estimates that an expanded Pharmacy First service could free up over 30 million GP appointments each year.
However, the CCA argued that the rollout of these services and additional workload by pharmacies is only possible if “the existing funding black hole is addressed.”
Malcolm Harrison, chief executive of the CCA said: “Pharmacies are absolutely integral to delivering the shifts to prevention and care closer to the community.
“The network is ready to do even more – but the foundations need fixing.”
He pointed out that each pharmacy in England is now suffering a funding shortfall of £100,000 every year.
“Policymakers must, urgently, remedy the funding crisis,” Harrison noted, emphasising that continued underfunding is hindering businesses from being able to invest in the innovative services and practices that patients need.
“Any action on funding needs to go hand-in-hand with action to address the workforce challenges, updating outdated regulation, and ensuring commissioning provides patients in different postcodes with a universal offer,” he added.
In addition to core funding, Policymakers are also urged to address the "barriers" hindering community pharmacies. These include continued ARRS recruitment, which is depleting the community pharmacy workforce, and a lack of planning to harness independent prescribing and upskill the existing pharmacist workforce to become prescribers.
The CCA also highlighted the postcode lottery of commissioning, which creates “unnecessary legal, financial and administrative inefficiencies for pharmacy businesses that operate across regional boundaries.”
According to the association, outdated regulation is failing to make the best use of the skill mix within pharmacy teams, limiting pharmacists to dispensing and related tasks.
Finally, the CCA pointed out the insufficient integration of patient records and the lack of interoperability between general practice and community pharmacy.
