The Health Select Committee Expert Panel has today published its review of Government progress on pharmacy services in England. This reviewed nine Government commitments, seven of which were from the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework.
Commenting on the Expert Panel: evaluation of the Government’s commitments in the area of pharmacy in England, Malcolm Harrison, Chief Executive of the CCA said:
“Whilst we welcome the direction of travel that the NHS and Department of Health and Social Care have set out for community pharmacy, this Expert Panel report shows that there is much more to do, especially in the here and now.
Action must be taken to address the historic underfunding1 of pharmacies and the current funding model must be reviewed without delay. The Expert Panel also highlights the ever-increasing workload faced by pharmacy teams and the need to rollout the promised CPCF ‘efficiencies’ as soon as possible. It is therefore unsurprising to see the Expert Panel deem Government progress in pharmacy services as ‘requiring improvement’.
Our recent paper2 pulls together all the pieces of the Government and NHSE’s plans to transform access to healthcare through community pharmacy.
Government must be prepared to step up to the plate and implement all pieces of the puzzle together, if patients are to truly benefit from the transformation of community pharmacy”.
References
1 – CCA, Funding gap in England equates to more than £67,000 per pharmacy, January 2023, available here.
2 – CCA, ‘Future of Community Pharmacy in England’, July 2023, available here.