Pharmacists have remained the most financially optimistic healthcare profession, according to research by Lloyds Bank.

Eighty per cent of 76 pharmacists surveyed for the bank’s latest healthcare confidence index said they planned to bid for services in future, Lloyds Bank said. This compared with 61 per cent of GPs who answered the same question, and 69 per cent
of dentists who planned to grow their business, it said last week (April 17).

Thirty-nine per cent of pharmacists, surveyed between May and November 2014, said they planned to buy more branches in the next five years – a 14 per cent increase since last year, said Kevin Nichols, who contributed to the report.

This could partly be attributed to the tightening-up of control-of-entry requirements, which had added “certainty to the financial planning process for entrepreneurial pharmacists”, said Mr Nichols, who is managing director of financial and management service provider The Pharmacy Consultancy. 

Two-thirds of pharmacists expected to receive a larger proportion of their income from services in future, Lloyds Bank said. A fifth said they did not want to take on any additional services, it said.
 

NHS reforms "threat" 

However, only 46 per cent of pharmacists felt the NHS reforms were an opportunity for the sector, compared to 44 per cent who saw them as a threat, Lloyds Bank added. 

Ian Crompton, head of healthcare banking services at Lloyds Commercial Banking, said the findings showed that pharmacists were the “most bullish around bidding for new contracts”. “This bodes well for a continued positive performance within the sector,” he said.

GPs remained “more pessimistic” than pharmacists or dentists, Mr Crompton said, with “perhaps a sense of resignation reflecting the fact that 41 per cent are planning to retire or leave the sector within the next 10 years”.

Mr Nichols forecast that the level of optimism among pharmacists should continue over the next 12 months. “The only potential caveat is the possibility of a new government, which could alter the healthcare landscape in undetermined ways,” he added. 

How do you predict your pharmacy's finances will change in the next five years?

We want to hear your views, but please express them in the spirit of a constructive, professional debate. For more information about what this means, please click here to see our community principles and information