The Spending Review sets out a 3% rise in funding for the NHS. The government is providing a £29 billion real terms increase in annual NHS day-to-day spending from 2023-24 to 2028-29.
In response to the Spending Review, CCA Chief Executive Malcolm Harrison said:
“We welcome the funding increase to the NHS set out in the Spending Review.
Now, it is imperative that investment follows for community pharmacy, especially if the governement is serious about delivering its three big shifts in healthcare: hospital to community, analogue to digital, and sickness to prevention.
Pharmacies in England supply around 1.2 billion NHS medicines to the public each year. Our members have all invested heavily in infrastructure and technology to enhance efficiencies and improve productivity. Unfortunately, the current level of NHS funding for pharmacies is insufficient to sustain the network, resulting in the continued loss of local pharmacies across the country. More funding must be made available to pharmacies so they can continue to meet the growing demands of medicines supply and provide accessible care to patients wherever and whenever they need it.”