Numark chairman Harry McQuillan has said Labour’s 10-year plan for the NHS is an opportunity to establish community pharmacy as “a cornerstone of local health systems” but only if the Government addresses the sector’s “underfunding crisis.”

The plan, which will be published next spring, sets out Labour’s ambition of achieving “three big shifts in healthcare.” These include hospital to community, analogue to digital and sickness to prevention.

However, there have been concerns about the government’s failure to clearly set out the role pharmacies will play within the plan, even though it is garnering the views of the public, NHS staff and experts including clinicians about the health service to shape its strategy.

McQuillan said clarity, in particular, was needed around pharmacy prescribing and urged the government to ensure “independent prescribers in every community pharmacy are supported by robust training and infrastructure.”

“This would enable pharmacies to address acute and chronic care needs more effectively,” he said. “Moreover, integrating prescribing and dispensing within the same premises can offer patients a more seamless and efficient care journey.”

McQuillan said expanding “the scope of services such as vaccinations and the hypertension service is crucial” and insisted pharmacies “should completely manage, end to end, the repeat prescription process, deliver urgent care for minor ailments and provide tailored prescribing.”

However, his call for the expansion of pharmacy services came with the proviso that funding is in place to support pharmacies. Labour has yet to meet Community Pharmacy England for contractual talks.

“Funding frameworks must empower pharmacies to invest in infrastructure, workforce, and innovative services to ensure financial viability and high-quality care can be realised,” McQuillan said.

Numark strongly advocates for an expanded Pharmacy First scheme

He called for population health data to “guide the development, delivery and evaluation of services” so pharmacies can meet “public health needs and NHS goals effectively.”

“Pharmacies already deliver essential services such as flu vaccinations, health checks, and repeat prescriptions but are often underutilised for more advanced clinical services,” he said.

McQuillan also said Numark “strongly advocates for an expanded Pharmacy First scheme” in England which would give patients “open access to a pharmacist-led prescribing service,” allowing them to be “seen, assessed and treated at the point of presenting to the NHS.”

“This has the added benefit of easing the burden on GPs and hospitals whilst enhancing patient experience,” he said, insisting the expansion of pharmacy services should come with an expansion of pharmacy team skill sets.

“Enabling pharmacy technicians to administer NHS vaccinations without requiring an on-site vaccine-trained pharmacist would maximise team efficiency,” he said.

“Supervision changes should empower pharmacy technicians to oversee medicine supply and supervise other team members safely.”

McQuillan also said digital systems such as EPS must be “streamlined” and “designed with the minimum number of clicks” whilst collecting “only essential data needed to perform tasks.”

Insisting a “unified, shared care record system across primary and secondary care is crucial,” he said: “Pharmacists, GPs and other clinicians must have real-time read and write access to patient records to ensure seamless care, reduce duplication and support informed decision-making. The existing barriers to a shared care record must be removed.”