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The £340m funding uplift announced as part of the new contractual settlement for pharmacies last week will not be enough to stabilise the sector, cross-party MPs have said in a Westminster debate this afternoon (June 2).

Liberal Democrat MP Rachel Gilmour, who brought the debate, welcomed the funding settlement but said it is “far short of what pharmacies need to keep their doors open,” noting that 600 pharmacies closed in 2025.

Pharmacist MP Sadik Al-Hassan said the 2026-27 10.3 per cent funding uplift is “a start, not an end point” adding that it “comes against a backdrop of an around nine per cent yearly increase in costs”.

Ms Gilmour said it is “manifestly unfair” that pharmacies must pay full business rates unlike GP surgeries and dental practices despite being “frontline NHS providers in every meaningful sense”.

This was also brought up Conservative MP and general practitioner Luke Evans, who questioned whether the pharmacy minister has spoken to the chancellor about the impact of business rates on pharmacies.

“The rising costs also cast a shadow over the Government’s plan to expand independent prescribing through community pharmacy,” Dr Evans said.

Liberal Democrat MP Danny Chambers, who is also a vet, called for reform to the reimbursement system, commenting: “Given my professional background, I am used to sourcing, dispensing and prescribing drugs.

“However, the contract is so complicated that, despite my extensive conversations with those organisations, I do not fully understand it.

“The key message that comes out is that it costs pharmacists to dispense NHS medication in many cases, and that NHS medication is sometimes being subsidised by other sales in shops.

“I even met two pharmacists who said that their personal finances are subsidising some NHS dispensation.

“That is clearly not tenable in the long run.” 

Liberal Democrat MP Andrew George claimed to have heard of “troubling behaviour in the sector,” going on to say: “Some large corporate pharmacy chains are redirecting patients to independent pharmacies for medicines that are above tariff, incorrectly stating that those medicines are unavailable when in reality they are unwilling to supply them because of the financial loss involved. 

“That shifts both the clinical and the financial burden on to independent contractors.”

The debate also heard from Labour MP Alex Mayer, who argued Pharmacy First should be rebranded as ‘NHS+’

Ms Mayer said: “When I think about going to the chemist, I think about a place where we probably pay for our prescription and maybe pick up some shampoo or, if it has suddenly started chucking it down, an umbrella. 

“I do not think enough people will be thinking of highly trained clinical professionals who are on their doorstep. 

“Crucially, they will not be thinking NHS.”

Pharmacy minister Stephen Kinnock said he would “have a think about that” but would not “make any rash decisions today”.

He added: “Pharmacies are a massive untapped resource. The NHS that we are building puts them front and centre of care in every community, whether on the local high street or as one of the more than 400 distance-selling pharmacies that can reach across the country, including rural areas.

“This year, I plan to spend a lot more time with our partners in the sector to seize every opportunity to go further.”