Prime Minister Theresa May announced last week (June 18) that the budget for NHS England will increase by £20.5bn over the next five years.

However, when asked by C+D whether community pharmacy will be allocated some of this money, the Department of Health and Social Care said: “We will need to await the autumn statement for further details.”

RPS to write to Hunt

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society English board chair Sandra Gidley announced last week she would write to health and social care secretary Jeremy Hunt “to make sure he is fully aware of what pharmacy can offer when decisions are made about where to spend this new investment”.

“More than ever the NHS must make best use of every pound spent,” she continued.

“This must include reviewing the skill mix available in every setting to increase the use of the clinical skills of pharmacists to provide better outcomes for patients and better value for the NHS.”

PSNC: “We must begin negotiations”

Commenting on the funding announcement, the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee said: “We look forward to working with the NHS to understand how community pharmacy can help to meet the challenges ahead as the NHS develops its 10-year plan.”

CEO Simon Dukes continued: “The first step in that journey will be for us to begin substantive negotiations on community pharmacy’s immediate future, which we hope to be able to do soon.”

On Tuesday, Mr Dukes speculated to C+D that the government may be delaying negotiations for pharmacy's 2018-19 funding until the judicial review of the funding cuts is resolved. Read the full story here.