The Future of Community Pharmacy report
The All Party Parliamentary Group on Pharmacy have published a report making seven recommendations to the government.
The Future of Community Pharmacy in England report is based on evidence from Healthwatch England and other stakeholders.
Here's a summary of the report's recommendations:
- Provide a long-term funding settlement and modernise the pharmacy contract.
- Harness the untapped potential of community pharmacies to enable them to function as 'fully integrated local health hubs'.
- Expand Pharmacy First into a national, walk-in clinical service, covering a wider range of conditions.
- Tackle workforce issues and ensure enough supervisory capacity is available to oversee graduates, who will all, from September 2026, enter the workforce with independent prescribing qualifications.
- Give pharmacists clinical autonomy to substitute drugs in short supply, instead of being restricted to those covered by national serious shortage protocols.
- Better integrate pharmacy with other parts of the NHS, included joined-up IT with GP practices, better representation within integrated care systems and new national commissioning standards.
- Leverage community pharmacy to enhance the management of long-term conditions.
