Reforms to the initial education and training of pharmacists (IETP) standards mean that every community pharmacy could have a full-time pharmacist prescriber by the “early 2030s”, the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) has said today.
An NPA report on the expansion of pharmacy prescribing, published ahead of newly qualified pharmacists gaining independent prescribing (IP) powers on August 1, also found that 75% of pharmacies could have a pharmacist prescriber within the next three to five years.
Read more: Pharmacy contract: What will independent prescribing look like?
It said that without the General Pharmaceutical Council’s (GPhC) reform of IETP standards in 2021, it could have taken “around 12 years” for each community pharmacy to have one pharmacist prescriber, and “around eight years” for 75% of pharmacies to have one.
But the NPA stressed that action is “needed now” so that pharmacies are ready to deliver more prescribing services alongside the growing IP workforce.
“Use it or lose it”
NPA chair Olivier Picard said prescribing has “the potential to revolutionise local NHS care” and is a “golden opportunity to safely shift more care into the community”.
“This is a use it or lose it moment for the NHS,” he added.
“If we are to fully utilise these skills and not lose these staff members, the government should commission pharmacies to provide more prescribing services on the NHS.”
Funding, pathways and safety
The NPA said newly qualified pharmacists graduating with an IP qualification reduces a “reliance” on post-registration prescribing training as the “main source of workforce growth”.
The 2021 IETP standards will “accelerate pharmacist prescribing workforce growth substantially”, it added, and the 2026/27 pharmacy contract is an opportunity to “turn this growing workforce into commissioned prescribing service”.
Under the contract, IP will be introduced this autumn as a nationally commissioned service, funded by the NHS as “an extension” of Pharmacy First and the pharmacy contraception service (PCS).
Read more: ‘Is Independent Prescribing doomed to scale?’
Up to five new prescribing-only pathways will also be introduced for Pharmacy First, but these have not yet been announced.
“Realising the full benefit of this growing workforce will depend on services being commissioned with a sustainable payment model, alongside clear clinical pathways and practical support for safe, consistent delivery,” the NPA said.
Rise in prescribers
Using data from NHS England’s (NHSE) Community Pharmacy Workforce surveys, the NPA estimated that the current workforce provides “roughly one pharmacist prescriber for every three pharmacy premises”, a significant increase on 2022 numbers.
There were 1,579 pharmacist prescribers, equivalent to 1,087 full-time equivalents (FTE), in 2022 - but as of 2025, there are 3,154 pharmacist prescribers out of 25,822 community pharmacists in England, with 2,346 FTE.
The NPA said infrastructure to support prescribing needs to be developed “alongside the phased introduction, testing and monitoring of prescribing services”, and funding for “IT systems and integration with general practice and wider NHS systems” is needed to reinforce the investment made in training pharmacists as prescribers.
Read more: ‘Training is at a tipping point for independent prescribing’
It said commissioning prescribing services “early” would give pharmacists the chance to “use and develop their skills”, and allow pharmacies to prepare the operational systems and support needed to “deliver safely at scale”.
The body noted that local commissioning should be based on “existing access gaps” to help service rollout and improve access “without widening inequalities”.
And it warned that without commissioned services and opportunities for pharmacists, prescribing skills “may be underused and may deteriorate over time”, reducing the “potential benefits for patients and the wider NHS”.
“Generational opportunity”
Company Chemists’ Association policy head Dr Nick Thayer told C+D that independent prescribing “is a generational opportunity to improve patient access to care and reduce pressure across the wider NHS”.
But he stressed that plans to introduce prescribing through Pharmacy First and the PCS “must now be delivered at pace”, and that “greater ambition is needed” to fulfil the potential of IP in community pharmacy.
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“Failing to commission independent prescribing at scale could worsen workforce pressures by making community pharmacy a less attractive sector for pharmacy professionals,” he said.
Community Pharmacy England chief executive Janet Morrison said independent prescribing “must be backed by sufficient investment” and reiterated that without this, there is “a real risk that the full benefits of this landmark development will not be realised”.
And Royal College of Pharmacy president Tase Oputu said “strong clinical governance, access to patient records, protected learning time and ongoing professional development” must be introduced to support IP.
Read more: Funding and IT ‘critical bottlenecks’ to IP rollout, NPA report warns
Oputu called for a “nationally commissioned prescribing services in community pharmacy”, a move also backed by the Independent Pharmacy Contractors Network (IPCN).
The IPCN told C+D this should include “ring-fenced implementation funding” and “realistic service funding” to reflect the “complexity and responsibility of independent prescribing”.
“Success will be measured not by the number of pharmacist prescribers joining the register, but by whether they are given the support, governance, infrastructure and funding needed to prescribe safely, confidently and within the limits of their competence,” it said.
