NPA leaders today (January 8) warned that “continued delays” to the pharmacy contract “may leave them with little choice but to advise pharmacies to take collective action later this month for the first [time] in their history”.
The pharmacy body said it is “utterly unacceptable” that pharmacy owners have been “left out of contract by the NHS for nearly 300 days with the government yet to start negotiations on a settlement for the current financial year – which runs out in under three months’ time”.
Read more: NPA gives DH ‘time to digest’ results of 99% ‘Yes’ collective action ballot
The NPA’s November ballot – which gave members the opportunity to protest against ongoing delays to NHS pharmacy funding – received near unanimous support in favour of collective action.
But chief executive Paul Rees said at the time that the body was “looking at January” to make any recommendations on collective action, “giving the government the chance to digest the results”.
Read more: Saturday shutdown: Pharmacy protest ballot could see weekend closures
The government, however, has neither responded to the ballot nor started funding negotiations for this financial year “despite numerous assurances from ministers,” the NPA said today.
If the body does recommend collective action later this month, pharmacies could take measures almost immediately, an NPA spokesperson told C+D – although some types of action could take months to start.
“Second-class citizens”
“The current contractual arrangements for community pharmacies expired on March 31 2024 and pharmacies have been working without a new contract since then, despite now being more than nine months into the financial year,” the NPA stressed.
“Funding has been cut by 40% in real terms over the last decade at the same time as workload substantially increased, leading to 700 pharmacy closures in the last two years alone,” it added.
Read more: Streeting slams NPA ‘sabre-rattling’ over collective action
The NPA said it has written to NHS England’s (NHSE) chief executive Amanda Pritchard calling for community pharmacy to be treated “fairly” and “on a par with the other parts of the NHS”.
It warned that pharmacies are currently “treated like second-class citizens in the health service”.
“Crippling uncertainty”
NPA chair Nick Kaye said that the “endless” contract delays have left “hardworking” pharmacies “abandoned in the dark, causing them stress and uncertainty about their future”.
“The crippling uncertainty about funding is preventing pharmacies from investing in better services and reform – instead making them take on debts or question whether they can continue at all,” he added.
Read more: Streeting and Kinnock say it will be a ‘New Year’ start for pharmacy contract negotiations
“The last thing pharmacies want to do is withdraw vital services from patients as a form of collective action, but we may be left with little choice unless things improve,” Kaye said.
He added that “offering GP colleagues a contract offer for the next financial year before even starting negotiations with pharmacies for this year has only inflamed this situation further”.
“The government must get around the table as soon as possible to…offer reassurance and security to pharmacies so they can serve their communities with confidence,” he urged.
Read more: ‘Horrifying’: Pharmacy Access Scheme fails to prevent 58 closures
A Department of Health and Social Care (DH) spokesperson reiterated that it “inherited a pharmacy system that has been neglected for too long and isn’t supporting pharmacists to deliver the care they want for patients”.
“Community pharmacy has a vital role to play as we shift the focus of the NHS out of hospitals and into the community, and we will shortly be resuming our consultation with Community Pharmacy England (CPE) to agree new funding arrangements,” they said.
The spokesperson added that the current contract runs on until it changes, meaning community pharmacies are not currently out of contract.
Collective action ballot
Breaking down the ballot vote from November, the NPA said that in England:
- 97.8% voted to serve notice on opening hours above the minimum required by their contract – meaning fewer pharmacies will be open in the evenings and at weekends
- 93.3% voted to withdraw free home deliveries of medicines that are not funded
- 96.1% voted to withdraw from locally commissioned services, including some local addiction support services, emergency contraception and stop smoking support
- 99.2% voted to refuse to co-operate with certain data requests above those required for patient safety and contractual minimums
- 96.8% voted to withdraw from supplying free monitored dose systems (medicine packs) that the NHS does not pay them to provide, other than those covered by the Disability Discrimination Act
Read more: CPE ‘united in anger’ as pharmacy contract negotiations ‘stuck’
Meanwhile, health secretary Wes Streeting last month said that community pharmacy contractual framework (CPCF) negotiations would be starting “shortly in the new year”.
According to Streeting, pharmacy minister Stephen Kinnock’s “number one focus” is to “[stabilise] the system”.
“I can say that we are now very focused on getting these negotiations started early in the new year,” Kinnock said in December.
