Funding
CPE data shows 96% of pharmacy owners are “concerned” or “very concerned” that “their business may not survive this winter” as Sadik Al-Hassan MP is “eager to see this government avoid mistakes made during the past 14 years that have brought our sector to a crisis point”.
Health secretary says funding negotiations will begin “shortly in the new year” as pharmacy minister says the delay is because negotiations “did not get over the line before the general election”.
The Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) has begun an employment tribunal claim on behalf of pharmacists who were left in the lurch when their employer declared itself insolvent, it has revealed.
The Northern Irish Department of Health (DH) has announced that “an additional £15m” will be invested into community pharmacy and GP pharmacy by April 2027, “subject to additional funding”.
New analysis by the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) has found that the UK is “one of the worst countries in the OECD” for pharmacy provision.
CPE has expressed “severe frustration and intense anger” as it reveals that pharmacy contract negotiations are “stuck” between the Department of Health and Social Care (DH) and NHS England (NHSE).
The BMA has urged GPs and community pharmacies to “work in a joined-up way” after GP leaders last week voted “overwhelmingly” for pharmacy blood pressure checks to be terminated immediately.
The four pharmacy bodies have together urged the government to “shield community pharmacies from…increased costs and measures” introduced in the October budget.
The pharmacy sector has been left in limbo since its five-year funding deal came to end in April, but after delay upon delay to negotiations, are we any closer to a new deal?
Boots has signed a letter to the Chancellor stating that the “sheer scale of new costs” introduced by the budget – including a rise in employer national insurance contributions (NICs) and the national living wage – will “make job losses inevitable”.
Pharmacy collective action would put strain on GPs who are “already struggling to keep up with appointments”, a GP practice has told C+D.
Community pharmacists are set to meet with a Northern Ireland Office (NIO) minister to discuss the sector’s funding crisis after the National Pharmacy Association’s (NPA) ballot received near unanimous support in favour of collective action.
The pharmacy negotiator has called for promised financial rewards for “high-performing” health providers announced as part of a package of NHS reforms to “apply to community pharmacy too”.
Facing almost £50,000 in wholesaler fees and NHS clawbacks, one Plymouth pharmacy owner has told C+D that she is still paying back a personal loan used to pay for NHS medicine.
The Department of Health and Social Care (DH) has admitted that the system is “no longer supporting” pharmacists, amid overwhelming support for pharmacy collective action.
The National Pharmacy Association’s (NPA) ballot has received near unanimous support in favour of collective action, but it will now wait for the government to respond before advising members to act.
Pharmacy workers across the Netherlands are taking part in a national strike calling for “higher wages” and a “reduction in work pressure”.
MPs have urged the government to “go back to the drawing board” and “invest” in community pharmacies as concerns grow about the upcoming hike in employer National Insurance Contributions.
Pharmacies and GPs will not receive additional funding to help with the burden of increased employer National Insurance Contributions (NICs), which was announced last week (October 30) in the chancellor’s first Budget, C+D understands.
An increase in employer National Insurance Contributions (NICs) and minimum wages will cost the community pharmacy sector more than £125 million, a new IPA analysis has found.