Our response to Edge Health’s report on the future of community pharmacy
A report by Edge Health, sponsored by Sandoz, has examined the growing pressures on community pharmacies and the long-term sustainability of the sector. The report says that community pharmacies are facing growing operational and financial pressures, highlighting that:
- Increasing time is being spent by pharmacies comparing medicine prices and sourcing stock from multiple wholesalers for small unit savings, adding cost and complexity to pharmacy operations.
- Pharmacy First is a strategically valuable initiative, but its revenue contribution is modest compared with dispensing income. Increasing incentives and payments would reduce reliance on volatile dispensing margins.
- The number of pharmacies is declining, and many owners are concerned about the long-term future of their businesses and the associated costs of exiting.
The report warns that without long-term economic reform, community pharmacy will remain heavily exposed to instability driven by dispensing margins.
The pressures facing community pharmacy and their implications for the NHS 10-Year Plan
Our CEO Janet Morrison said:
“This Edge Health report provides yet more evidence of the extraordinary pressures that community pharmacies are facing, and it underlines the critical need for Government to stabilise the supply chain. It backs up what our sector polls tell us about the time pharmacy teams have to spend sourcing medicines, as well as showing the breadth of the problems that volatility in the supply chain and margin are causing.
We share the report authors’ concerns about the long-term viability of community pharmacies, and their calls for economic reform to address the financial instability in the sector. This report is yet more confirmation that community pharmacy is on a knife edge: pharmacies urgently need investment and a roadmap for the future.”
