Community Pharmacy England demystifies the negotiating process
Community Pharmacy England has published commentary and infographics to help pharmacy owners (our members) better understand the negotiating process.
Our work to negotiate fair funding, as well as changes to NHS pharmacy services, with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and NHS England is a crucial part of our role. Understandably the sector is eagerly awaiting an update on the progress of the current negotiations on the Government’s pledge to invest £645m in community pharmacies and, as part of our ongoing efforts to improve transparency of our work, we have released materials to explain the negotiating process.
Firstly, Negotiating Team Member Stephen Thomas – who joined the team this year – has written a blog about his experiences. Describing both the complexity of the process and volume of work undertaken, Stephen recognises the significance of his role on behalf of pharmacy owners across the country. Whilst speed is of the essence, even higher on the Negotiating Team’s list of priorities is working through a large number of important questions – particularly around the funding and logistics that need to be put in place.
Read Stephen’s blog: The £645m – so what’s happening now?
A new set of explanatory diagrams complement Stephen’s blog. There are four infographics covering both general and specific elements of the negotiating process. They aim to:
- Introduce the Community Pharmacy England Negotiating Team;
- Describe the weekly negotiating cycle – particularly the work that takes place on each day;
- Outline the parties involved and some of the key discussion points for the Primary Care Access Plan negotiations; and
- Provide a rough timetable for the Primary Care Access Plan Negotiations.
The infographics are housed on a new page of our website about the negotiating process:
The Negotiating Process webpage
If you have questions about the negotiations, please send them in to comms.team@cpe.org.uk and we’ll be happy to produce some FAQs. You may also like to watch Community Pharmacy England CEO Janet Morrison talking about this recently on our webinar too.
