‘Staggering’ £387 million spent on GP pharmacist recruitment via ARRS
Pharmacy minister Neil O’Brien has revealed that 46% of ARRS funding has been spent on the recruitment of “clinical pharmacists”.
Mr O’Brien revealed that the government has spent a total of £387 million recruiting pharmacists into GP practices via primary care networks (PCNs) between 2019/20 and 2021/22.
The pharmacy minister shared the information in a parliamentary written answer this week (October 23) in response to a question asking “what the cost to the public purse” was for the additional roles reimbursement scheme (ARRS) and the recruitment of “clinical pharmacists” under it.
Mr O’Brien revealed that in 2021/22, the government spent a record £216m recruiting pharmacists to the scheme – £79m more than the previous financial year and £182m more than the first financial year the scheme launched in 2019/20.
As of 2021/22, the government had spent £839m in total on the scheme, which is also used to recruit other staff such as paramedics and physiotherapists into GP practices, meaning 46% of the total funding over the three years had been spent on recruiting pharmacists.
But Mr O’Brien said that both the total 2022/23 ARRS spending and that used specifically for the recruitment of pharmacists into PCNs are yet to be confirmed.
He added that NHS England (NHSE) is “committed” to a review of the ARRS during 2023/24 that will look at the “performance of the scheme to date and inform the government’s approach to any future support for additional clinical roles in general practice”.
“Staggering”
Reacting to the news, chief executive of the Company Chemists’ Association (CCA) Malcolm Harrison said that the £387m “and counting” spent on pharmacist ARRS recruitment “is a staggering amount of money that has directly led to the shortfall of community pharmacists in England”.
“This money could have been invested in frontline pharmacy staff”, he said, stressing that additional funding would allow “pharmacists to provide even more vital patient-facing care”.
He said that “the pharmacy network needs investment – especially as [it gears] up to deliver the Pharmacy First common conditions service”.
“Robbing Peter to pay Paul is a short-sighted strategy,” he warned.
“Futile sectoral arguments”
But Primary Care Pharmacy Association (PCPA) president Dr Graham Stretch stressed that “whilst all working in primary care would support a fair contract for community pharmacy, the £387 million is part of GP contract funding” and not “separate community pharmacy contractual negotiations”.
He told C+D today (October 25) that the scheme has “resulted in pharmacist’s expertise being widely available for patients at the point of prescribing in general practice” and that “five years on” from its introduction “almost all practices in England have a well-trained pharmacist on the team improving safety and adding capacity”.
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Dr Stretch stressed that “to suggest ARRS is the cause of workforce issues in community pharmacy is to ignore findings from surveys” that have identified poor mental health, support and work life balance as causes.
“Instead of futile sectoral arguments between pharmacists, we need to advocate for adequate resources…in all fields of practice and work together in partnership between GP surgery and community pharmacy”, he added.
BMA admits ARRS creates “more competitive market”
Meanwhile, the health and social care committee (HSCC) last week (October 18) published evidence submitted to its inquiry examining the future role of pharmacy services, launched by MPs in June.
In a statement submitted to the inquiry, the British Medical Association (BMA) admitted that the scheme has had an impact on the community pharmacy sector, including by creating “a more competitive market”.
It said that while “additional support” in GP practices is “very welcome…it has also meant that PCNs have employed pharmacists and pharmacy technicians who previously would have been employed in community pharmacy”.
“Greater emphasis should be placed on expansion of the pharmacy workforce, as well as enabling cross working and true collaborative working between practices and community pharmacy…[to] ensure there is sufficient staffing to safely meet the needs of all service users,” it added.
The BMA also called for “better communication and integration between pharmacies and…GPs”, adding that “investment in premises and IT will be needed to achieve this” as capacity-constrained and “dilapidated” premises place a “major constraint on…approaches such as co-location”.
It comes after HSCC chair Steve Brine proposed that primary care should be brought together “in a physical sense” with pharmacies co-located with other providers at the Pharmacy Show last week.
