Negotiations on the next community pharmacy contractual framework (CPCF) are “stuck” between the finance teams of the DH and NHSE, Community Pharmacy England (CPE) chief executive Janet Morrison revealed in a video message yesterday (December 4).
“My understanding has been that agreement on what we can be offered has got stuck in the negotiations between the DH finance team and the NHSE finance team, as they have tried to look at how to allocate the money that the department has got across all of the NHS priorities,” she said.
Read more: Pharmacy contract limbo: Have negotiations finally resumed?
“It is frustrating that we don’t have…any better news at the moment,” she added, stressing that CPE committee members are “united in their anger” about the stalled negotiations.
In an update about the progress of negotiations for the 2024/25 contract, Morrison explained that she has written a “strongly worded” letter to health secretary Wes Streeting and pharmacy minister Stephen Kinnock to raise concerns.
“It was clear I had to…convey to them the severity of the impact of waiting for a recommencement of negotiations,” she said.
“House of cards collapse”
The letter stated that there is a “need for an urgent release of money” into the sector, “whether or not we [have] concluded all of our negotiations”.
Without “immediate funding relief”, pharmacy closures will continue “with the potential for a house of cards collapse of the sector”, CPE warned.
“We have made it incredibly clear that every day that goes by, there are serious consequences,” Morrison said.
Read more: Funding talks to resume after October 30 budget, says CPE
“Businesses are teetering on the edge and…more and more are facing debt and potentially administration,” she added.
“Many community pharmacy owners are now considering whether to close, sell or make further cuts to staff and patient services before they collapse,” Morrison said.
The delay to negotiations will have “serious consequences if we don’t get a resolution very, very soon,” she stressed, adding that the mood among its committee is one of “severe frustration and intense anger”.
“Really positive start”
Morrison and members of the negotiating team met with Kinnock in September and established “a really positive start to the relationship with the new government”.
“We felt very much that the minister was listening,” she said, adding that he was keen to continue meeting “on a regular basis” and “keep the door open for ongoing dialogue”.
But since then, pharmacists have been kept in limbo as the government, pharmacy minister and negotiator have seemingly differing views on the status of contract negotiations.
Read more: Kinnock: ‘Pharmacies are private businesses’ and closures ‘reflect many factors’
“We will let you know as soon as the government has written to us to reengage and recommence negotiations,” Morrison told members.
“I hope you can hear how strongly…we’ve made these points to the government,” Morrison told members – “and I hope that we will have more news soon”.
A DH spokesperson acknowledged that “community pharmacy [has] been neglected for years, but it has a vital role to play in the shift of care from hospital to community as we reform the health service through our 10 year health plan”.
“At the Budget, we announced a £26 billion boost for the NHS and social care - we are committed to working with the pharmacy sector and we will set out further details on allocation of funding for next year in due course,” they said.
Pharmacy contract limbo
Nearly eight months have passed since the expiry of the five-year community pharmacy CPCF – negotiations were originally set to conclude in March.
A litany of delays pushed back negotiations until after the budget announcement on October 30.
But that date has been and gone, and formal negotiations still seem not to have resumed.
Read more: NPA protest ballot: Government ‘committed to working with sector’
A DH spokesperson told C+D last week that negotiations for the 2024/25 and 2025/26 contracts are taking place at the same time.
But they were unable to say when an outcome would be announced or confirm whether the negotiations will be finalised by March 2025, when the current contract year comes to a close.
