“Verified data to the end of November 2024 shows that £82m has been spent in the 2024/25 financial year” on the Pharmacy First service, pharmacy minister Stephen Kinnock yesterday (March 11) revealed.
The figure represents just 12.7% of the two-year funding package of “up to” £645m allotted to fund the new services in 2023.
Read more: ‘Not your money’: CPE admits £645m Pharmacy First cash ‘unlikely to be spent’
In September, Community Pharmacy England (CPE) revealed that NHS England (NHSE) was “quite clear” on its multimillion-pound Pharmacy First investment – “if you earn it, you get it, but it’s not your money”.
And in June, analysis by the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) found that only £180m of the budget is “expected to be delivered to pharmacies in England” by the end of March 2025.
Read more: Pharmacies set to receive just £180m of £645m ‘promised’ Pharmacy First funding
But the new figures show that, unless some £98m was spent in the first two months of the service and between December 1 and the end of this month, even less of the cash will have been spent than the pharmacy body warned.
“A comprehensive view of all spending against the Pharmacy First budget will be available after the end of the financial year,” Kinnock added.
No “actual comms plan”
Meanwhile, an NHSE spokesperson yesterday (March 11) revealed that they are “not aware of an actual comms plan” to further publicise the Pharmacy First service.
During an NHS Confederation webinar on the service’s first year, NHSE senior policy lead Kirsty Armstrong answered a question about whether “there are any plans for NHSE to run further public awareness campaigns that deliver greater impact as GP referrals are relatively low”.
Read more: GPs ordered to switch on GP Connect by new contract
Armstrong said that she couldn’t give a “clear answer”, adding that NHSE has “to be mindful of other pressures in the sector of which [it knows] there are a number”.
“We’re currently in consultation on our new contract and that provides a difficult environment for us to be doing a lot of active promotion,” she said.
Read more: Pharmacy First: Government ‘acting on’ GP refusal to engage
“But it is something that we do continue to talk about and where there is a need for it, it definitely would be something that will be looked at,” she added.
“I’m not aware of an actual comms plan to do more at the moment, but it is something that is continually reviewed,” she said.
Pharmacy First latest
Last month, NHSE announced that GPs must reinstall GP Connect, which allows pharmacies to send Pharmacy First consultation data to their patients’ GP practices, as part of their £889m-boosted contract.
And in January, YouGov revealed that three-quarters of the public support pharmacies providing treatment for additional conditions, including chest infections and skin conditions.
The same month, the Pharmacists’ Defence Association (PDA) revealed that three-quarters of pharmacists have been pressured to undertake Pharmacy First consultations, while the same proportion warned they cannot “safely deliver” the service.
Read more: MP: GPs need ‘financial incentive’ to engage with Pharmacy First
Also in January, health minister Baroness Merron said that the government is “acting on” reports that GPs are “unwilling to direct patients” to community pharmacies and Pharmacy First services.
It came as MPs called for “financial incentives” to be introduced to encourage GPs to “work with pharmacies” and engage with the Pharmacy First service, saying that there are “disincentives” for GPs to embrace the service.
That month, NHS North East London told C+D that it was investigating a local and national “decline” in Pharmacy First referrals from GP practices and a “general reduction in Pharmacy First activity across all community pharmacies”.
