“Employers clearly have a key role in retaining staff and making jobs in community pharmacy attractive,” pharmacy minister Stephen Kinnock this week (February 12) told MPs in a written parliamentary question and answer.
The comment came after Labour MP for Bolton West Phil Brickell asked Kinnock “what steps he is taking to increase the number of community pharmacists”.
In his response, Kinnock added that NHS England (NHSE) has funded “several” training opportunities for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians to “help support private contractors deliver quality NHS services”.
Read more: Kinnock: ‘Pharmacies are private businesses’ and closures ‘reflect many factors’
“The government will make sure the NHS has the staff it needs to be there for all of us when we need it,” he told MPs.
“A central part of the 10-year health plan will be our workforce and how we ensure we train and provide the staff,” he said, adding that a “refreshed” long term workforce plan will be published in the summer to “deliver the transformed health service we will build over the next decade”.
Brickell also asked the pharmacy minister to provide an assessment of “the effectiveness of the Pharmacy First service” and whether the Department of Health and Social Care (DH) “plans to consult on extending the list of conditions patients can be treated for” under it.
Read more: Pharmacists urged to ‘submit ideas’ for 10-year plan to ‘fix NHS’
“NHSE is keeping the Pharmacy First service under close review,” Kinnock said.
And he added that “a National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) evaluation of Pharmacy First will assess how the service has been implemented across England, including impacts on prescribing in the general practice setting”.
Read more: IN FULL: CPE sets out April to July ‘timeframe’ to deliver new contract
National Pharmacy Association (NPA) chair Nick Kaye told C+D that while the body shares “the government’s desire to make community pharmacy a desirable place to work”, staffing issues are “in large part a consequence of a decade of underfunding”.
“At least 90% of an average community pharmacy’s work is funded via the NHS and pharmacies are a key part of the NHS family,” he added.
“It should be obvious that pharmacies will struggle to invest in their teams as they would wish when they are facing a daily struggle to stay open,” he said.
“Take pressure off GPs”
Kinnock also told MPs that the DH “[wants] to take pressure off GPs by improving access to community pharmacies and creating a community prescribing service” in a separate written parliamentary question and answer.
But he shared no details on how the government plans to do so, only adding that it is “currently in consultation with Community Pharmacy England (CPE) regarding the funding arrangements for 2024/25 and 2025/26 and [is] unable to say more until this consultation is completed”.
His comment was given in response to a question from Conservative MP for Isle of Wight East Joe Roberston asking “what steps [Kinnock’s] department is taking to help stabilise primary care”.
Read more: Pharmacy First: Government ‘acting on’ GP refusal to engage
CPE last week set out a “timeframe” of April to July 2025 to “conclude and implement 2024/25 and 2025/26 negotiations” for the community pharmacy contractual framework (CPCF).
Its “draft workplan” said it will agree a “Community Pharmacy Plan” with the DH, with “priorities” to enhance existing services and commission new clinical services - including a community pharmacist prescribing service - in summer 2025.
It comes as DH data published last month (January 30) revealed that Kinnock met with CPE just once between July and September 2024.
Read more: MP: GPs need ‘financial incentive’ to engage with Pharmacy First
The meeting was described as “an introductory meeting to discuss pharmacy” and took place on September 3, almost two months after the Labour government first came into power and Kinnock was revealed as pharmacy minister.
Meanwhile, health minister Baroness Merron last month said that the government is “aware” of claims that some GPs are “unwilling” to refer patients to community pharmacies.
And in the same month, Conservative MP for Farnham and Bordon Gregory Stafford called for a “financial incentive” for GPs to engage with Pharmacy First.
