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The National Pharmacy Association chairman Nick Kaye has accused the government of suppressing a long-awaited report exposing the economic crisis engulfing community pharmacy and urged them to publish it immediately.

The analysis, commissioned on behalf of NHS England as part of the sector’s contractual arrangements for 2022-23 and 2023-24, was designed to assess the economic cost of delivering NHS pharmaceutical services and whether pharmacies are viable under the current funding model.

But as talks between the government and Community Pharmacy England on 2024-25 and 2025-26 pharmacy funding get underway, concerns are intensifying that ministers are attempting to hide the true scale of pharmacy underfunding.

The NPA said it fears the analysis will not be published until those talks conclude and insisted the public “needs to understand the fragile nature of the pharmacy network before any new deal can be agreed”.

NPA chair: It’s a scandal to leave pharmacies and public in the dark

Kaye said it would be “a scandal” to keep evidence of pharmacy’s perilous financial predicament “buried secret and leave MPs, pharmacies and the public in the dark”.

“It would be outrageous to suppress publication of a Government-commissioned report which is expected to lay bare the perilous financial state of a vital part of the nation’s health infrastructure,” he said.

Calling for “full and immediate transparency about the funding”, Kaye added: “The Government inherited a crisis in pharmacy funding and will need to take strong action to maintain access to medicines.”

He warned pharmacies were “closing at an alarming rate and those that remain are being forced to cut opening hours to stay open”.

“Pharmacies need an urgent conclusion to consultations on pharmacy funding that protects the network that is so vital to millions of people. They cannot wait,” he said.

“We need Government-commissioned analysis on pharmacy funding to be published now.”

When asked if it was accusing CPE or the government, or both, of suppressing the report, the NPA told Independent Community Pharmacist: “It is an NHSE-commissioned report, so it is ultimately up to them whether or not it gets published.”

The Independent Pharmacies Association (IPA) also released a statement today insisting the analysis is published “as soon as possible”.

“The IPA went public in 2023 with the figure of the shortfall of £1.2 billion a year to the global sum,” it said. “At the end of last year, we announced the shortfall has risen to over £1.7 billion and continues to rise.”

The IPA urged the government to take the results of the analysis “into consideration for the upcoming 2025-26 funding cycle”.

No transparency on CPE’s progress without report’s publication

CPE said work on the analysis, carried out by Frontier Economics and IQVIA, started in April last year and pharmacy owners were asked to provide information about their businesses to inform the project.

An advisory board and working group comprised of owners, CPE staff and NHS England representatives was also set up as part of the project.

In October last year, CPE said it hoped the review would prove to the Government that community pharmacies are no longer “economically sustainable”.

However, without sight of the report’s findings, there are concerns contractors will not have the transparency needed to measure CPE’s progress in its talks with the Government.

Independent Community Pharmacy has asked the Department of Health and Social Care and CPE for a response.