Community Pharmacy England (CPE) last week (August 8) launched a “summer survey” to gather the sector’s views on “potential funding allocations, service priorities and regulatory asks” ahead of negotiations for the 2026/27 pharmacy contract.
The poll will “directly inform discussions at the next CPE committee meeting in September” and will help it set “negotiating priorities including key asks and red lines”, it said.
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“Pharmacy owners can share the most important message they want to give to the government, consider the best way to allocate sector funding and reflect on service priorities and regulatory asks,” it added.
The survey, which is open to community pharmacy owners only, will close at 11.59pm on Monday September 8.
Negotiations “approaching”
CPE stressed that contractors’ input “has never been so vital” with the next round of contract negotiations “approaching”.
The poll asks questions around optimism about the future of pharmacy, the “biggest challenge” contractors currently face, the financial “outlook” for their business and priorities for funding and contractual or regulatory reform.
Read more: DH launches policy paper on pharmacist drug substitutions
It also asks for views on potential future pharmacy services – “assuming a more sustainable contract and operating model can be agreed” – such as services for NHS weight management, menopause advice, independent prescribing (IP) and additional vaccination services.
And it probes contractors on their “confidence” in delivering various elements of the government’s recently released 10-year health plan.
Read more: New £85m programme set to test pharmacy obesity service
CPE said that the questions were “informed by discussions at recent sector workshops”, with nine regional sessions taking place “over the past month” that provided “valuable insight into the challenges facing community pharmacy and the priorities of those working on the front line”.
It added that “exercises” on funding allocation and service priorities at the “well-received” workshops gave pharmacy owners a “greater understanding of the challenges CPE faces in negotiating” with the government.
“Tricky decisions and trade-offs”
“There is a huge amount of work that goes on in laying the groundwork for those discussions with the government long before we enter the negotiating room,” CPE chief executive Janet Morrison said.
She added that “undertaking extensive economic modelling, identifying the most pressing needs and determining red lines are all key parts of this”.
Morrison also highlighted the “wide diversity of views in the sector” that CPE “has to reconcile in its deliberations”.
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“Involving pharmacy owners in some of these tricky decisions and trade-offs has not only been a really useful way to understand their preferences but was also an eye opener for many on the difficult choices we face,” she added.
CPE said that it is compiling opinions from pharmacy owners and local pharmaceutical committees (LPCs) across the country alongside inputs from national pharmacy organisations and the results from its regular polls.
“Seeking further discussions”
Meanwhile, CPE yesterday (August 12) said it is “seeking further discussions” with the government after the publication of a policy paper on managing medicines shortages including via pharmacist drug substitutions.
The new paper comes ahead of the launch of a Department of Health and Social Care (DH) consultation on pharmacist “flexibility” to supply prescription alternatives.
Read more: Flu jab fees ‘still being considered’ as CPE reveals increase bid
CPE said that the proposals are “a positive step forward” but stressed that while the paper “seeks to address some of the pharmacy sector’s concerns, it does not deal with the gaps in funding to improve supply chain resilience”.
It warned that the supply chain is “struggling to operate effectively given the UK’s low-price environment” and this is “further intensifying the intolerable financial pressures on community pharmacies” with medicine margin “spread more thinly”.
“We are seeking further discussions with the DH on pharmacy-related medicines supply concerns and will continue to work with its medicines supply team to monitor and address ongoing supply disruptions,” CPE said.
Read more: DH ‘committed’ to pharmacy prescribing services
Last month, C+D revealed how often the pharmacy minister met with the negotiator ahead of the long-awaited 2024/25 and 2025/26 pharmacy contract as well as key insights from their meeting minutes.
At the time, CPE confirmed to C+D that it had no update beyond the commitment made in the latest funding deal to begin negotiations for the 2026/27 contract this autumn.
