Commenting on the Hewitt Review of Integrated Care Systems, Malcolm Harrison, the Chief Executive of the CCA said:
“We are very pleased that the Rt Hon Patricia Hewitt has recognised the challenges presented to the community pharmacy workforce by the funding of Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS) roles for pharmacists within PCNs. We know that this funding has contributed to a significant rise in vacancy rates across the community pharmacy and hospital settings, and has resulted in a 90% increase in the hourly rates paid to locums, as demand has outstripped supply.
For the past year the CCA has been calling for a co-ordinated pharmacy workforce plan, to span the whole of primary care, so that in the future patients can access a pharmacist whenever and wherever they need to. We welcome the opportunity to work with the health systems to develop solutions to enable patient care to be effectively and safely moved from PCNs and into community pharmacies, thus reducing the need to pull pharmacists away from the communities they serve.”