Approach with new Government and strategic planning considered at June Committee Meeting

Community Pharmacy England reconsidered the immediate priorities for the new Government, alongside wider strategic planning, when members met in Birmingham last month.

During a meeting on 26th and 27th June 2024, Committee Members remained focused on the urgent challenges facing pharmacy owners as well as the ongoing work to build a better future for the sector. LPC leaders from the West Midlands region joined part of the meeting to talk with Committee Members, observe subcommittee meetings, and share feedback from local pharmacy owners..

A critical part of the meeting was a review of Community Pharmacy England’s positioning and priorities in preparation for the new Government. Committee Members noted the significant work that had led to the community pharmacy sector being mentioned in multiple political party manifestos, and how important it would be to build on this momentum.

The Committee reviewed how to continue to take forward Community Pharmacy England’s strategy with the incoming Government, including discussing a revised list of priorities for community pharmacy service enhancements to incorporate elements from party manifestos. Members explored the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead, informed by recent polling of pharmacy owners.

See the results of the Committee opinion polling here:

Briefing 012/24: What pharmacy owners told us in June 2024

The two-day meeting agenda also included a discussion on the rollout of the Pharmacy First service, particularly concerns around the challenges pharmacy owners are having passing the thresholds for the monthly payment. This critical issue has already been raised with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and NHS England, and a range of possible solutions are being considered. We are also continuing to push NHS England to do more to promote the service to patients and to support general practices to make more referrals into the service. CEO Janet Morrison has addressed these concerns in a new video blog:

CEO video message: Pharmacy First thresholds

The immediate focus following the General Election has been to engage with new Government Ministers to recommence discussions on critical issues, including the 2024/25 CPCF negotiations.

With the significant turnover of MPs, there is also a big job to do to rebuild our network of advocates across the new Parliament. We have increased our influencing programme over the past two years to help fight pharmacy’s corner, and that work will need to continue as we look to strengthen relationships with decision makers, policy advisors, and other people of influence following the General Election.

Read more in the full meeting summary:

Briefing 013/24: Summary of June 2024 Committee Meeting

Hear more from Community Pharmacy England

Pharmacy owners (and their representatives) are invited to attend regional events to hear more about what lies ahead for community pharmacy, and how Community Pharmacy England will be working to improve the outlook following the election. Find your local event in our events index or if it has now passed, register for the all-England online/hybrid event.

Janet Morrison, Chief Executive of Community Pharmacy England, said:

“Community Pharmacy England’s most recent Committee Meeting came at an important moment just before the General Election, providing a timely further chance to finalise our tactics for approaching the new Government. The discussions reflected on both the very critical state of community pharmacies and on our strategic plan to build a better future for the sector.

Community pharmacies remain in deep distress and the sector will have been relieved to see Labour recognising this during the General Election campaigning period. But the new Government has also been clear about the financial challenges that it faces, labelling the entire NHS as broken in its early days. It’s critical that Community Pharmacy England positions itself to work effectively with the new Government to urgently address the extreme pressures burdening pharmacy owners and their teams. This has been the focus of these first few weeks following the election and our Committee Meeting, during which we have written to both the Health Secretary and pharmacy Minister, as well as picking up urgent discussions with DHSC. We are ready to recommence CPCF negotiations as soon as they are.

We have also been working on our wider influencing work, which has been fundamental in raising awareness of community pharmacy’s plight for many months, securing the sector’s place in many parties’ manifestos as well as helping to secure the critical Primary Care Recovery Plan funding last year. The next few months will be an important time for building supporters across the new Parliament – and key influencers outside of it – and we have already begun this work reaching out to many hundreds of MPs already. As this work continues, we will be looking to LPCs and pharmacy owners to help reach out to new MPs: new resources and guidance to help with this will be released very soon. We’re also continuing to travel around the country to talk to pharmacy owners about what lies ahead for community pharmacy, and how you can contribute to the ongoing work to get a better deal for community pharmacy.”

Meeting outputs

Outputs from June’s Committee Meeting are linked below.

Briefing 012/24: What pharmacy owners told us in June 2024
This briefing outlines the results of the opinion polls conducted ahead of the June Committee Meeting, and how we are using the data.

Briefing 013/24: Summary of June 2024 Committee Meeting
This briefing provides more detail on the discussions the Committee had, including information from subcommittee meetings and next steps.

CEO video message: Pharmacy First thresholds
This video blog from Community Pharmacy England Chief Executive Janet Morrison addresses concerns around the Pharmacy First thresholds for monthly payments.

Pharmacy Owner Events Programme
The Community Pharmacy England team have been visiting every NHS England region to outline the work they are doing and discuss key issues for the sector. Some events are still open for registrations, including an all-England online/hybrid event option.