The government will look to cut pharmacy numbers unless the sector can prove its worth through services, PSNC chief executive Sue Sharpe has warned.

Community pharmacy faced a "grim" future if it was unwilling to offer anything beyond dispensing, Ms Sharpe told the Avicenna conference in Birmingham on Sunday (October 20), because it would make justifying England's existing network of more than 11,000 pharmacies difficult.

But she stressed that there were "tremendous opportunities" for a pharmacy network that provided consistent and reliable services, including support for patients with long-term conditions.

Justifying England's 11,000 pharmacies would be difficult based on dispensing alone, PSNC chief Sue Sharpe warned

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"If pharmacy voted with its feet to say the only thing you can really rely on us to do is supply, that [would] trigger a potential shift to hub-and-spoke warehouse operations and people saying there are cheaper ways we can meet the needs of patients," Ms Sharpe argued. "A lot of us buy books from Amazon [and] groceries online, and we're kidding ourselves if we think pharmacy will be different and people won't be attracted to other ways of getting their prescriptions."

Ms Sharpe stressed that pharmacies could no longer rely on growth in prescription volumes, as this was already starting to slow.

"If we're not going to offer anything systematically beyond dispensing, it's looking pretty grim, frankly," Ms Sharpe warned, but added: "If we can help avoid the burden of disease, then I think policy makers will really be positive and enthusiastic about making sure we have a well-funded network out there."

Taking on routine care of stable patients with long-term conditions and acting as a "healthy lifestyle hub" to prevent conditions such as obesity and alcohol-related illness would put the sector in a strong position, Ms Sharpe said.

She suggested these should be essential services, rather than opt-in services. "As a clinical commissioning group, I don't understand how I could commission a service unless every pharmacy provided the service," Ms Sharpe argued.

"I just don't see an optional framework working for us in the areas where we want to move forward, so that's quite challenging," she told the conference. "So as a sector, we need to decide what we can commit to."

She added: "The number of pharmacies NHS England is willing to fund will be intimately connected to services we are willing to do."

Ms Sharpe did not confirm when the delayed 2012-13 funding package would be agreed, but said it was "getting closer" and stressed that it was better to "get it right than get it quick".

What national services should pharmacies in England commit to? Comment below or email us at [email protected] You can also find C+D on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook