On the new funding for pharmacies, CCA Chief Executive Malcolm Harrison said:
“We are encouraged that the Government has committed to increasing the funding for community pharmacy.
It is clear the Government has listened to the stark warnings that the CCA and others have given about the impact of a decade of underinvestment in this vital sector. Pharmacies in England procure and supply 1.1bn NHS-prescribed medicines every year and are visited by patients and the public 1.6m times a day.
Given the findings of an economic independent review released on Friday, it is clear there is a still a significant gap between the cost of delivering NHS community pharmacy services and what pharmacies will be paid.
We look forward to working with the Government to find ways to bridge this gap to ensure the future sustainability of the pharmacy network in England”.
On the independent economic analysis of the community pharmacy sector in England, CCA Chief Executive Malcolm Harrison said:
“The economic analysis confirms what the CCA has warned of for many years – a decade of sustained underinvestment in the pharmacy network has had severe impacts and, without significant intervention, will continue to do so.
We hope that these stark findings will help to bring about lasting change to the direction of travel for pharmacies in England.
A strong community pharmacy sector is vital for maintaining patient access to medicines and urgent care, and as such to wider national economic growth.”
On the expansion of the pharmacy contraception service, expected from October 2025, which will allow women to access emergency hormonal contraception from pharmacies nationwide, CCA Chief Executive Malcolm Harrison said:
“We welcome the expansion of this service which we’ve been urging for some time. This will remove the postcode lottery that women currently face when accessing this care”.
Q&A
How does investing in community pharmacy benefit the NHS and patients?
Pharmacies in England dispense over 1.1bn NHS prescribed medicines to the public each year. Every day, about 1.6m people visit a pharmacy in England. Pharmacies also deliver a range of NHS services, many of which are designed to prevent sickness, stopping patients from having to visit their GP or local A&E altogether.
The NHS England-commissioned independent economic analysis found that the community pharmacy network is on the brink of collapse. It found that:
- Total funding for 2023-24 was £2.755 billion.
- “The estimated total full economic cost [of providing NHS community pharmacy services] exceeded funding by £2.308 billion”.
- Around 47% of pharmacies were not profitable in their last accounting year.
- “NHS pharmaceutical services are not sustainable in the long-run” amongst 99% of pharmacies in England.
- 78% of pharmacies in England are “unsustainable in the short-run” and “there is a significant risk of interruption to NHS pharmaceutical services offered in these pharmacies”.
Investment is necessary to protect patient access to medicines and pharmacy care.
Before this new funding, core funding for the community pharmacy sector in England had experienced a 40% real-terms cut over the past decade. Since 2017 alone, 1,200+ pharmacies have permanently closed – 35% of them in the 20% most deprived communities. Our analysis shows that between September 2022 and June 2024, the equivalent of 3.4m hours of pharmacy access was lost per year – 62% due to closures, and 38% due to the reduction in opening hours.1
NOTES TO EDITORS
Economic analysis
In October 2022, as part of the final negotiated community pharmacy Contractual Framework deal, NHS England, Department of Health and Social Care and Community Pharmacy England agreed to commission an independent economic analysis of NHS pharmaceutical services. Frontier Economics and IQVIA were commissioned to undertake this review. The analysis, published on 28th March, is available here.
Pharmacy First
On 31st January 2024, the NHS Pharmacy First service was launched across England, allowing pharmacists to provide advice and supply prescription-only medicines, where clinically appropriate, for seven common conditions.
| Condition | Age range |
| Acute otitis media* (earache) | 1 to 17 years |
| Impetigo | 1 year and over |
| Infected insect bites | 1 year and over |
| Shingles | 18 years and over |
| Sinusitis | 12 years and over |
| Sore throat | 5 years and over |
| Uncomplicated urinary tract infections | Women 16-64 years |
The NHS Pharmacy First service launched on 31st January 2024, allowing pharmacists to provide advice and supply prescription-only medicines, where clinically appropriate, for seven common conditions.
In its first year, the service freed up an estimated ~2.3 GP appointments.2 For the seven conditions, the CCA estimates that it could free up 9m+ GP appointments each year.
The CCA estimates that expansion of the Pharmacy First service could free up 40m+ GP appointments each year – around a tenth of all GP appointments.
When other parts of the NHS are closed or under pressure, community pharmacies offer an alternate route for patients to access. Amongst CCA members, demand for Pharmacy First consultations on Sundays is double of the average of that during the week. Moreover, there was a 10% spike in activity in the week leading up to Christmas, and a 15% spike during the CrowdStrike outage. Our analysis shows that 27% of Pharmacy First consultations were provided in the 20% most deprived communities.
References
1 – CCA, Over 6 million hours of pharmacy access lost due to closures and reduced opening hours, 21 October 2024
2 – CCA, Pharmacy First expansion could free up 40m GP appointments a year, CCA report finds,