Community Pharmacy England (CPE) today (July 5) said that it “will be seeking early meetings with new government ministers” at the Department of Health and Social Care (DH) as the Labour Party won a historic majority in yesterday’s general election.
However, it stressed that formal negotiations on a new funding deal may not begin for “some weeks”, even in a “best-case scenario”.
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The negotiator said that it was a “helpful start” for the sector to hear Labour MP Wes Streeting - who is “widely expected” to become the new health secretary - “recognising the enormous funding pressures that community pharmacies face and the many closures this has led to” in the run-up to the election.
But it added that “no spending commitments to pharmacy have been made” and warned that “the Labour Party has been clear that it will follow the preceding government’s fiscal rules, meaning public finances will remain very challenging across the board”.
“One item of many”
CPE chief executive Janet Morrison said that “one of the first tasks for the new government health team will be to conclude negotiations on the 2024/25 community pharmacy contractual framework (CPCF)”.
“Building on the work we have already done with the Labour health team – which has led to important manifesto commitments and a recognition of the pressures on community pharmacy – we are seeking very early meetings with new ministers on this topic,” she added.
Read more: UPDATED: No new pharmacy contract until ‘after the election’, says CPE
“However, even in a best-case scenario, we expect it to take some weeks before they are ready to commence formal negotiations with us – this is always the case with a new administration who will need briefings from civil servants and time to form their own views,” Morrison said.
She stressed that although a funding agreement is “critical” for the future of community pharmacies and the “safe supply” of medicines, it “will be one item of many” on ministers’ “list of NHS crises to solve”.
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Morrison added that while CPE was “pleased” to see Labour commitments to expand the role of community pharmacies with a community pharmacist independent prescribing service, the negotiator “will be underlining to ministers that we can only make this happen if pharmacies are sustainable”.
“We look forward to early discussions on this,” she said.
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It comes as two registered pharmacists will take their place in the House of Commons as part of the Labour landslide as the UK electorate dispensed with the Conservative Party after 14 years of governance in the general election held yesterday (July 4).
And in an exclusive opinion piece for C+D, former pharmacy minister and health committee chair Steve Brine has mapped out what the person in the hot seat could expect to face in the first weeks on the job.
