Minister leads panel at Community Pharmacy England event

Minister of State for Care, Stephen Kinnock MP, took part in a Community Pharmacy England-led panel event to discuss building a future-fit NHS, at the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool.

Minister Kinnock was joined by Janet Morrison, Chief Executive of Community Pharmacy England; Sarah Woolnough, Chief Executive at The King’s Fund; and Rosie Beacon, Head of Health at Re:State think tank, who chaired the discussion.

The event explored Labour’s plans for building a community centric, future-fit NHS, and what is required to deliver the Government’s 10 Year Health Plan.

Janet told the Minister and others that community pharmacy has much to offer to support a future-fit NHS, but she stressed that this can only happen if the current severe economic and funding challenges facing the sector can be resolved. She highlighted recent Pressures data and accounts analysis, as well as painting the positive picture about what a fully resourced community pharmacy sector could offer patients and the NHS of the future.

This was supported by Sarah Woolnough, who stressed community pharmacy needed to be at the heart of the emerging Neighbourhood Health Services.

The Minister spoke about neighbourhood hubs and how ICBs will be crucial in identifying local need, and he stressed the need for greater collaboration across primary care. He also talked about capacity-building to support the change management process that the NHS will need to go through to deliver care closer to home and the broad NHS 10 Year Health Plan.

On community pharmacy, the Minister highlighted independent prescribing as a key opportunity on which Government wants to build.

On funding and the long-term sustainability of community pharmacy, the Minister recognised that primary care budgets will need to deliver reform and change. While he said that Governmental discussions about the funding ‘envelope’ for community pharmacy were ongoing, he said that the 19% funding uplift delivered to community pharmacy this year is unlikely to be repeated given ongoing budget constraints.

The design of the neighbourhood health service and the challenges with balancing demands on the NHS with the funding available to the health service were key themes across many of the discussions at the Conference. Ministers were continuing to talk about the three shifts for the health service which they are focused on delivering, and there was much discussion about implementation of the 10-Year Health Plan.

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

“The Government is, as expected, very focused on delivering its 10-Year Health Plan, the success of which will be critical to the NHS and all who rely on and work in it. Our events and engagement at Labour Conference this week have been focussed on highlighting how pharmacy can help Government to achieve its ambitions in shifting care into the community, and from sickness to prevention, but only if community pharmacies are protected from collapse with a sustainable and operational funding model.

While it was positive to hear the Minister repeat his ambitions for community pharmacy, including making best use of independent prescribing skills, it is very concerning to hear him talking about the wider Governmental spending constraints and how this is likely to affect pharmacy, as we prepare for upcoming negotiations. There is no doubt that there are very difficult discussions ahead, but we will be clear to Ministers, as we always are, about the very desperate position that pharmacies are in, the absolutely critical role that they play, and the very severe consequences for the whole of primary care if pharmacies are allowed to collapse.

If the Government wants its 10-Year Health Plan to succeed, it is going to need a robust and resilient community pharmacy network, operating at the very top of its potential. Together we need to find a way to achieve that: failure is not an option for pharmacies, for primary care, or for patients and the public.”

Wider Labour Party Conference Engagement

Representatives from Community Pharmacy England attended the Labour Party Conference engage with MPs and Ministers, as well as with representatives from health charities, patient groups, think tanks and journalists, discussing key topics relating to community pharmacy and advocating for the sector.

This influencing work is critical ahead of the next round of CPCF negotiations which are expected to begin this autumn.

As well as the panel event with Minister Kinnock, we hosted an informal evening networking event to talk to MPs and other primary care and patient group stakeholder. The team also attended a wide range of fringe events, making contributions to make the case for community, and we talked to a wide range of supportive MPs, including those in the Labour health team.

Our primary focus at Conference was to advocate for community pharmacy, ensuring that MPs and all others fully understand the value and potential of community pharmacy, but also the very serious strain that it is still under, and the risk if the financial pressures are allowed to continue.