The Department of Health and Social Care (DH) and Community Pharmacy England (CPE) announced the 2024/25 and 2025/26 community pharmacy contractual frameworks (CPCF) in March.
Last month (June 18), Labour MP for Exeter and All-Party Pharmacy Group chair Steve Race said that pharmacy minister Stephen Kinnock was “the first minister in living memory to actually go into the negotiations to say hello, have a chat, [and] talk about community pharmacy”.
Read more: All the headlines: Community pharmacy funding deal
Speaking at a General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) parliamentary event, he added that it was “a real turnaround in the relationship with government and community pharmacy in general” and that this change is “really welcome”.
But how many times did Kinnock actually meet with CPE since he began as pharmacy minister in July last year until the new funding deal was announced?
“Legal advice” on contract imposition
Responding to a C+D freedom of information (FOI) request, the DH confirmed that Kinnock met with CPE three times between July 5 2024 and May 27 this year.
The first meeting took place at Kinnock’s office in Westminster on September 3, with redacted minutes revealing that the minister suggested “regular meetings [approximately] every two months”.
Read more: Kinnock ‘shocked’ to find pharmacy is a ‘car crash’
Meeting minutes also revealed discussion topics of the “ongoing struggles” faced by pharmacy businesses, the “untapped potential of pharmacies” and the “challenges and potential” of the Pharmacy First service.
They revealed that CPE chief executive Janet Morrison warned that the negotiator had “got legal advice on what it would do if the contract were imposed”, with a “proposed uplift” only covering an increase in dispensing.
But Kinnock set out that he was “keen to work with the sector on reform and funding”, the documents said.
“Money married to reform”
The second meeting took place online on October 30 where Morrison “expressed the pressures facing CPE on the contract”, according to the documents.
She also warned that the “response from the sector” to the autumn budget announced that day would “focus” on additional costs coming from the living wage and National Insurance Contribution (NIC) increases, they said.
The minutes added that Morrison “was open to the contract consultation process but expressed concern that a two-year process would take longer and create a potential delay in getting any money available to the sector”.
Read more: All the headlines from the government’s NHS 10-year plan
And the third meeting took place on February 25 this year back at Kinnock’s office where CPE director of communications Zoe Long and CPE committee members Fin McCaul and Stephen Thomas raised the “importance of resetting medicine margin”.
The trio stressed that the government must commit “to closing the gap identified in the economic analysis”, meeting minutes revealed.
The documents added that they “discussed the balance of the offer not stabilising the sector in its entirety but that it is still a large investment and a step in the right direction”.
Read more: Health minister Stephen Kinnock on the 2025 funding deal: ‘I know it’s not perfect, but...’
And while Morrison warned that there was “particular pressure expected in April” for pharmacy cashflow, she said that CPE was “conscious of not overly front-loading” funding, they said.
Kinnock told CPE that the government was “committed to working with partners in the sector and the importance of money being married to reform”, they revealed.
Key DH meetings
Aside from meeting CPE, Kinnock also met with the GPhC on January 8 and the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) on February 3 this year to discuss community pharmacy, the DH revealed.
In other meetings shared by the DH:
- DH director general for primary care and prevention Jonathan Marron met with NHS England (NHSE) on October 3 last year to discuss the community pharmacy economic analysis
- Marron then had a follow-up meeting with NHSE on December 19 to further discuss “community pharmacy”
- Medicines minister Karin Smyth met with the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) on November 18 for an “introductory meeting” followed by a December 3 meeting with the GPhC to discuss its “regulatory performance”
Read more: Contract timeline at a glance: What is happening when?
Meanwhile, CPE last week (July 1) confirmed to C+D that it has no update beyond the commitment made in the latest funding deal to begin negotiations for the 2026/27 contract this autumn.
It comes as Kinnock last month told MPs that the state of community pharmacy was a “car crash” when he joined the DH last year.
And the DH last week revealed its 10-year plan for the NHS in England, including some 21 references to community pharmacies and pharmacists.
