Deal done but void remains

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So we finally have a new NHS contractual framework  for community pharmacy in England. Is it everything we wanted? Very far from it.

As I and fellow NPA board member Ashley Cohen told the BBC and numerous other broadcasters – it is a start, but not enough. However, the alternative, with the Government in turmoil, was likely to mean months more in the dark for pharmacy contractors – and absolutely no guarantee of a better result.

The deal does very little to close the £2.5bn funding gap that the NHS itself identified a year ago, and means that most pharmacies can probably limp on for another year. Sadly, though, there may well be more closures. In fact, a settlement of this size only just about keeps pace with costs such as minimum wage increases and business rates.

Further investment

Much more investment is certainly needed to transform community pharmacy into the primary care powerhouse it has the potential to become. That means serious investment that can help deliver the hospital-to-community shift envisaged in the 10 Year Health Plan for England.

Thanks to those many NPA members who have helped us keep up the pressure in the public and political spheres for a funding uplift. Without those efforts, the picture today could be distinctly worse. 

Now we need to get rid of the deeply unfair process where every year the Government holds all the cards.   

We must also demand real reform of the pharmacy contractual framework so that it is fair to all pharmacy owners, including those of independent pharmacies, who suffer disproportionately from the current absurd system based on averaging and clawbacks.

Prescribing progress

Finally, a note about the modest expansion of independent prescribing included in the contract announcement.

Prescribing enables pharmacists to deliver accessible, clinical, high quality pharmaceutical care to patients in their neighbourhoods – but only if the right level of funding is in place to sustain the service. 

The limited expansion of the NHS Pharmacy First service using pharmacist prescribers, is a step forward – but nowhere near ambitious enough to transform patient access to care, nor make full use of pharmacists’ skills and qualifications.