The National Pharmacy Association yesterday released a set of requirements it wants to see the government fulfil in the next community pharmacy funding settlement.

As pharmacies across England still wait for news on when Labour will meet Community Pharmacy England to thrash out the terms of a 2024-25 deal and beyond, the NPA called for five “key tests” to be met.

First, it said it wants an above inflation increase in community pharmacy’s global sum. The most recent settlement was worth £2.592 billion a year and ran until 2023-24.

The NPA said an increase would make “significant progress towards mitigating devastating real terms cuts over the past decade and covers real terms cost increases in 2024-25 and 2025-26, including national insurance and national living wage increases.”

The NPA also said pharmacies should receive payment in arrears for 2024-25 “as a matter of urgency in one lump sum” and no more clawbacks during 2024-25.

It wants core funding from 2025-26 to be delivered “equitably and transparently” and insisted it should not be “dependent on the actions of other health providers.”

The NPA said the government must produce “a clear roadmap” to reform community pharmacy and the Drug Tariff, which the trade association said will enable Labour to deliver its 10-year NHS plan.

The blueprint will set out the government’s plan to move care from hospitals into the community with a focus on prevention. The NPA said pharmacies must be restored “to a sustainable financial position.”

Finally, it said a “new mechanism” for regularly reviewing pharmacy funding should be established. This, the NPA said, will ensure funding “increases annually at least in line with costs.”

NPA chair Nick Kaye said “pharmacies simply cannot wait any longer for a settlement that should have been agreed and paid a year ago.”

Over 17,000 pharmacy hours a week could be lost

Earlier this month, CPE told Independent Community Pharmacist it is still waiting for a date from Labour on when 2024-25 talks will start.

Last month, 99 per cent of pharmacies balloted by the NPA said they would be prepared to take collective action. It would be the first time in history community pharmacy had taken action of this kind.

Kaye said the NPA was ready to work with ministers but warned pharmacies “will have no choice” but to reduce their services “unless a settlement is offered immediately.”

The NPA said more than 17,000 hours a week of pharmacy time for patients could be lost if collective action goes ahead, equating to 900,000 hours over the year. 

“We’ve given the Government ample time to respond to the very clear expression of professional concern expressed in our ballot,” he said.

“Now’s the time to come up with a sensible settlement and a clear roadmap to the reform we all want to see.”