Community Pharmacy Wales (CPW) has revealed that funding for Welsh pharmacies will remain the same for the next financial year at a “ring-fenced total allocation” of £165.134m.

In a statement circulated to contractors this week (July 3), CPW announced that the Welsh government said “there would be a zero increase in CPCF funding in 2024/25”.

It added that the government was “also unable to guarantee that community pharmacy would participate in the NHS pay review body arrangements in the summer as has been the case in the previous two years”.

Read more: CPW: ‘Not possible’ to conclude Welsh contract negotiations before April

“The CPW board determined that this was unacceptable” and “made clear that pharmacies will be unable to continue the successful delivery of the provisions of Presgripsiwn Newydd without a significant increase in funding,” it said. 

“Despite its best endeavours, CPW was unable to persuade the Welsh Government to change its position,” it added.

“Welsh Government negotiators simply did not have the authority to put more money on the table at this time,” it said.

Funding “not forthcoming”

Numark chairman Harry McQuillan told C+D yesterday (July 4) that he could “understand that Numark community pharmacy members will be disappointed” by the announcement. 

He added that the deal was especially disappointing “against the backdrop of significant increasing operational costs”.

He said that “the crumb of positivity” was that “at least the funding is set at the higher level agreed halfway through 23/24” – “it will be interesting to see if the Welsh Government replicates a similar midyear uplift”.

He added that both CPW and the Welsh government “have jointly recognized…that dispensing, and the supply function is critical to maintaining public health and disease control”.

Read more: Welsh pharmacies secure 5% funding increase for 2023/24

“The allocation of a larger proportion of funding to this activity is welcomed but comes at the expense of further service development,” he said.

He added that “it would appear that the desire to support more service development remains but the funding to do so has not been forthcoming at this time”.

In January C+D exclusively revealed that Wels pharmacies had secured a 5% funding increase for 2023/24, bringing baseline CPCF funding excluding margin for Welsh pharmacies to £165.1m per year.

And in March, CPW said that the new core contract was “unfortunately” delayed as “tripartite discussions between CPW, Welsh government and local health boards” were “still ongoing”.

Meanwhile today (July 5), 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”.