“Community pharmacists [have] been underfunded,” Sir Ed Davey yesterday (September 15) told delegates at the annual Lib Dem conference in Brighton.

Responding to a question asking “at what point [the NHS needs] more reform than funding”, the party leader said that “in many areas there’s not enough being spent”.

“At the election, we said that community health services, GPs, NHS dentists [and] community pharmacists [have] been underfunded - they don't have enough staff,” he added.

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“If you don't get more GPs, don't get more NHS dentists, don't open those community pharmacies, which are on the frontline of people's healthcare, people will end up going to hospital,” Davey said.

He told delegates that “upfront investment in primary care is absolutely critical to take the pressure off the ambulance services”, adding that “if you get primary care right, you make a big difference”.

Social care crunch

“I just think the idea that you reform without investment, or reform before you invest, is just wrong,” Davey said.

But he stressed that “the reform that we need most of all…is reform of social care”.

“We're pressing for the budget on October 3 to be a budget for the NHS and social care,” he added.

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The comments come after Lord Darzi’s independent investigation of the NHS in England last week said that the NHS has been “degraded by disastrous management reforms” and “chronically weakened” by poor funding, leading to a deterioration in “the health of the nation”.

The report described the community pharmacy sector as “one of the great strengths of the health service” with a contract that has “historically…promoted a highly efficient distribution of pharmacies”.

Read more: Landmark state of the NHS report touts ‘huge potential’ of pharmacists

But it recognised that the total level of funding for the sector has dropped and “significant numbers” of pharmacies have closed, even as community pharmacy has “expanded the range of clinical services” it provides in recent years.

Meanwhile, the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) last month warned that the number of pharmacies in England could soon fall below 10,000 for the first time since 2005.

And parliament last week announced that Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran will chair the new health and social care select committee.