Reacting to the NHS 10-year health plan, Independent Pharmacies Association (IPA) chief executive Dr Leyla Hannbeck said putting community pharmacies “at the centre of neighbourhood healthcare should be a no-brainer”.
But she added that there must be “minimal red tape” and “no tired old excuses for the IT not being ready on day one”.
Read more: IN FULL: Pharmacy to ‘transition’ from dispensing to clinical services by 2030
National Pharmacy Association (NPA) chief executive Henry Gregg said “thinking differently” on how community pharmacies can be used alongside GPs and hospitals “can deliver nothing less than a health revolution” and expanding their roles is “a good way to roll out many of these services at pace”.
Company Chemists’ Association (CCA) chief executive Malcolm Harrison also welcomed the plan’s “ambition to rebalance the focus within the NHS between primary and secondary care”.
And Community Pharmacy England (CPE) chief executive Janet Morrison said the plan will bring “sizeable change” but warned it is important to “start discussing the practicalities as soon as practicable”.
“The development of each new service needs to be carefully managed given the sector’s current capacity and tight finances,” she added.
Read more: DH to launch pharmacist-staffed ‘neighbourhood health services’
General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) chair Gisela Abbam said it had “strong support” for the plan’s “overall aims”.
She called for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians to be “closely involved in developing and delivering” them.
She also said pharmacy needs to be put on a “resilient and stable footing for the future for this plan to succeed” and “ongoing support and investment” is needed.
Pipe dream
Also on funding, Hannbeck said “proper funding must be in place beforehand so we can plan, train and invest to give our patients the level of service and support they deserve.
“Let’s also be clear that automation cannot provide the cost efficiencies to fund any of this, that is but a pipe dream.”
She also cautioned that the government’s financial impact assessment for it is “out of date and wildly inaccurate.”
Gregg said “additional clinical responsibilities must be accompanied by contractual reform and sustainable funding”.
And Morrison, who will represent pharmacy in talks with the government over the next pharmacy funding deal, said the plan “now needs to be backed by sustainable funding to enable community pharmacy to reach its potential”.
“The 10-year plan should also act as a springboard for the development of a pharmacy-specific plan for the future,” she said.
Read more: NHS 10-yr plan ‘very GP centric’ but pharmacy role must ‘grow’
She added CPE is “keen to begin negotiations” with the government for the 2026/27 community pharmacy contractual framework (CPCF) “as early as possible to ensure that these proposals will be implemented in a way that works best for our sector”.
Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) England board chair Tase Oputu said pharmacists must be “included in strategic decision-making for patient pathways wherever medicines are involved” for new neighbourhood health services.
“We have been engaging with NHS England (NHSE) to ensure that strong pharmacy leadership is retained and visible across the system to develop new services, ensure the best use of resources and deliver savings where possible,” she added.
And the Pharmacists’ Defence Association (PDA) also stressed that pharmacists must have “a voice in the way that future services are designed and delivered”.
“This time feels different”
Harrison said the plan points to a “more clinical future” and that pharmacies are “well placed to increase access to weight-loss medicines and deliver wrap-around weight management care to patients”.
And Pharmacy2U’s chief executive Kevin Heath said it’s not “the first time we’ve been promised a revolution of the NHS” but that “this time feels different”.
He added that the government and health industry have a “shared energy and urgency” not “truly seen since the pandemic” and it’s “reassuring to see that the change has already begun”.
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