I don’t play games myself, but I can see that this game between Community Pharmacy England (CPE), the Department of Health and Social Care (DH) and the Treasury has been going on for so long, I don’t even know whose move it is anymore!

Many healthcare professionals (HCPs) around us are going on strike and for what feels like the first time in a long time, CPE has finally taken a stance and stated that we cannot continue the way we are unless we have more funding. It urged the government to pause the rollout of the Pharmacy Quality Scheme (PQS) as a result.

Read more: And the winner is... C+D unveils your new Xrayser

“Great,” said the contractors. “We may now finally be heard! We may start to look at a new contract as the current one is no longer fit for purpose – and hasn’t been for a long time.” But then NHS England (NHSE) sent out communications regarding the oral contraceptive service, making it clear that contractors can sign up via the Manage Your Service (MYS) portal. So, has NHSE overlooked CPE’s communication? What is going on? Does anyone understand the rules of this game or is it game over?

The good news is that contractors have clearly heard the message from CPE and wholeheartedly support it. In fact, people have been talking about striking, which we cannot do, but if all contractors decide against delivering this service, we'd be able to show NHSE and the government that we mean business, that we are all taking a stand together and will not do more until funding improves. Game over. The winner is community pharmacy. Well, the term ‘winner’ is used very loosely here, as we have not been winners for several years now.

Read more: DH ‘committed’ to October launch for next tier of contraception service

However, as always, some contractors have decided to go ahead with the service anyway. Admittedly a very small number, but some nonetheless. They tell themselves they need to do this for income, or because they’d already started the pilot. Or they tell themselves that they’ve organised training for everyone, that patients need this service, etc. But all this shows is that community pharmacy will always lose because we never play together as a team. Someone always wants to shine and be that step ahead. But until we all stick together, the whole sector will ultimately be losers.

But after a few bank holiday weekends and local elections, we have an opportunity to start a new game. A different game. A game that starts with £645 million in the bank as the government seeks to pump money into clinical services. That’s it, that’s all we know.

When can we start the game? Not sure. Is the funding enough for what we’ll need to do? Not sure. Can we carry on down the current path of negotiating our next contract while we're still locked into playing a never-ending game with the government? Not sure.

Read more: Government injects £645m investment into community pharmacy

While this extra funding is promising and a step in the right direction, it remains to be seen if it’s enough to save what sometimes feels like a sinking ship.

One thing we can be sure of is the dedication of community pharmacists and their teams. They’re not ready to jump off the sinking ship yet. While the sector has that, we have hope. Hope is all you need sometimes – along with funding, of course.

The identity of Xrayser remains a mystery, but their irreverent views are known by all. You can Tweet them @Xrayserpharmacy