In NPA Essential

Follow this topic

Bookmark

Record learning outcomes

This month's news from the National Pharmacy Association...

Dealing with shoplifting in your pharmacy

Sadly, the scourge of shoplifting from pharmacies continues unabated. This month, our own chairman, Olivier Picard, was threatened after confronting a young man at Olivier’s pharmacy in Reading, who was shoplifting items from the shelves.

In August, the NPA revealed new data showing that nine in 10 of pharmacies saw a surge in shoplifting over the last year. Our survey of around 500 pharmacies also found that 87 per cent had seen an increase in aggressive and intimidating behaviour towards pharmacy staff.

Of those that reported these criminal incidents to the police, 73 per cent believed they received an insu cient response. The NPA condemned the abuse of hard working pharmacy staff and urged the police to do more to deter crime in pharmacies.

We also called on the NHS to provide a similar level of support that is offered to other parts of primary care, such as GP practices, to help protect pharmacies and their teams. In the past, the NHS has provided funding to GP surgeries to make changes to improve security, such as to fit panic alarms and installCCTV.

Please make use of the practical advice available on the NPA website, about deterring theft and protecting staff. This includes:

• A template banning letter which can be used by members to ban a patient/customer from entering the pharmacy. Before sending out a banning letter, we would advise that you email NPA Insurance on legal@npa.co.uk to allow them to review the letter for you.

• Zero tolerance posters

• NPA/Police webinar: A recording of the webinar where we look at preventing crime; protecting yourself, your staff; your premises; and your stock.

Keeping pharmacy financial pressures in the public eye

In August we published a new survey, alongside Community Pharmacy England, on the current state of pharmacy finances. Its highly troubling, if unsurprising, findings, were:

• 63 per cent of pharmacies could have to close in the next year without a funding uplift

• Seven in 10 NPA members have had to raid personal savings or remortage their homes to keep their doors open last year

• Around half could not pay their wholesaler on time or in full.

No NHS service should be being propped up by the personal savings or mortgages of the individuals running it! Pharmacies cannot realise the opportunities in the Ten Year Health Plan without adequate funding, as several of our members made clear in national media this month.

Forthcoming NPA member events

Pharmacy First

Newcastle. Sunday 28th September 2025, 9:30am - 12:30pm. Enhancing your role in delivering the Pharmacy First service, with a particular emphasis on hands-on otoscopy training, overcoming barriers to GP referrals, and initiating conversations around long-term condition management.

Prescription processing

Online September 30 2025, 7.30pm Presented by NHS Business Services Authority. Discover what happens to your prescriptions once you have submitted them and how accounts are received and prepared for scanning.

HR, Health and Safety

Online. Wednesday 10 September from 1.00pm.This webinar is part of a series of virtual events aimed at helping members understand their membership benefits. Another ‘Maximising your Membership’ event will follow on 17 September, covering Business Insights and Support services.

Register for NPA events at the NPA’s Membership Hub.

Weight loss drugs - handling the price hike

Eli Lilly announced a significant price increase in the UK for Mounjaro (tirzepatide) from September 2025 – this is one of the weight loss injections being extensively used.

This has caused serious concerns among patients and members regarding the impact on the clinical care of patients being treated with this medicine privately.

The NPA was called upon by several high-profile media outlets to give the pharmacy perspective on the situation and we also created helpful member resources such as a downloadable letter for your patients explaining that this change applies to all clinics and pharmacies across the UK.

We know that members are being asked what patients can do if they can no longer stay on Mounjaro, and we’ve published clinical advice to support you with this situation. Seach ‘Mounjaro’ on the NPA’s Membership Hub.

Ask Your Pharmacist Week reminder

The National Pharmacy Association has announced that this year’s Ask Your Pharmacist Week (AYP) will take place from 3-10 November.

AYP is the foremost UK-wide public awareness campaign for community pharmacy, providing an annual platform for promotional activities and a prompt for conversations with stakeholders at local level about community pharmacyservices.

Many pharmacies also use the week as an opportunity to invite local politicians and dignitaries to visit, to learn about the skills and services on offer. More details will be released soon. Pharmacy owners, pharmacy teams and stakeholders wishing to discuss how they can take part should email NPA head of communications Stephen Fishwick at s.fishwick@npa.co.uk

Benchmark yourself against your top 10 competitors

Local Market Insight (LMI) is a well established service which was previously available to subscribe to at a signifi cantly discounted rate for NPA members. The great news is that these valuable reports are now included within your membership.

LMI lets you see how your local marketplace is performing and how you compare within your area. It provides you with the insight to make decisions where you could focus to drive further improvements across market share and delivery of key services.

It may even help you assess your relationship with local GPs, which is a critical factor in delivering the 10 Year Health Plan for England. You will receive easy-to-read and clear reports direct to your inbox. All you need is your NPA member number to unlock the zip file that contains your report/s.

Waste management charges - NPA successfully intervenes

Following a consultation earlier this year, the Environment Agency (EA) decided to increase or add charges for certain exemptions. Yet, after the NPA voiced concerns, the EA dropped the charge for the T28 exemption which pharmacies need to safely denature and dispose of controlled drugs, which means that no change has been made.

Mole screening partnership

We have onboarded Map My Mole as a new private service partner. It o ers NPA members a mole screening platform with fast access to UK dermatologists – no expensive equipment needed. Pharmacies can provide lesion checks and, if benign, offer removal as an additional service.

Reports are returned within 48 hours, and support is provided throughout onboarding. It is aimed at enhancing patient care and creating new revenue opportunities, with future plans to support independent prescribers for broader dermatology services.

NPA views on contract reform

A reminder that Community Pharmacy England (CPE) is still consulting with contractors on the future direction of the contractual framework.

We encourage you to have your say by taking part in CPE’s survey. We ourselves will be making clear that our priority is a proper fi nancial settlement alongside decisive action to implement the ambitions outlined in the 10-year plan.

We think now is the time to be radical and to think very differently about the contract – leading to a sustainable sector that can o er patients the services they need.

Your NPA Insurance team - Gareth Richards, head of compliance

In the latest in our series about the experts making up the NPA Insurance team (NPAI), we say hello to head of compliance Gareth Richards...

“Like many people who’ve forged a successful career in a particular specialism, I never set out to be a compliance expert! My insurance journey actually started as a ‘Man from the Pru’ (although I didn’t have a waistcoat and Trilby like the original agents!).

It was old school field sales; selling life and pensions policies as well as collecting premiums.

“Following a short stint in sales, project opportunities led to an exciting career in compliance. After 14 years, it was time for a change and I joined the National Pharmacy Association as Compliance Officer for its insurance businesses – at that time these was were Pharmacy Mutual Insurance (PMI) and the Chemists’ Defence Association (CDA).

“Those early days were exciting and daunting in equal measure – the compliance team at the Prudential had been much bigger. But that has meant that I’ve been very involved in all the signifi cant changes that have been introduced over the years to ensure that NPAI can best support its members.

"It’s been exciting: from amalgamating PMI and CDA and subsequently re-branding to become NPA Insurance, to bringing administration and then underwriting capabilities back in-house and enhancing our systems to allow us to restart underwriting property and make our services and expertise more commercially available via the intermediary market under our trading style Peach, which was launched in 2020.

“Playing a key role in such significant projects across the business has been hugely satisfying and kept things interesting. And it’s meant that throughout my time at NPAI, I’ve been continually learning and developing my skills and areas of expertise – something which would not have been possible in the same way in a larger organisation.

“Aside from appreciating this level of involvement in the business, I think the main attribute of NPAI which determined my decision to develop a career within the organisation, is the ‘mutual’ ethos which it still holds at its core.

“Insurance at the NPA was set up by pharmacists over 125 years ago to provide protection for their businesses and their livelihoods. Its purpose remains clear today – to protect community pharmacy as its role within the provision of primary healthcare and commercial services grows and diversifies. We’re more about being a supportive partner than squeezing loss ratios. We are proud to give back to the community we serve.

“Our indemnity policy is a great product and we continually review and maintain its suitability for the core market. This allows us to remain agile and react to the rapidly emerging risk our members face. This has also allowed us to develop a robust and agile schemes business under our Peach brand.

“I honestly can’t believe I’ve been part of the NPAI family for 18 years. The opportunity to continue to experience and solve new business challenges as an integral part of an amazing team –while knowing that we are making a positive contribution to community pharmacy – makes every day interesting and rewarding.

“I feel lucky that my career took the path it has and I love being ‘the compliance man from the NPAI’.”

NPA Pharmacy Technician Course

Didn’t get a funded place on the NHS England Community Pharmacy Technician Apprenticeship Programme? You can still train and qualify with the NPA’s General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC)-accredited pharmacy technician course.

Our flexible 27-month programme fits around you with no classroom days or o -the-job training required. Trainees work through 22 modules, building knowledge and skills while continuing to contribute to the pharmacy team.

Why choose the NPA course?

• Learn while you work – stay in-pharmacy throughout

• Wide-ranging content: medicines, medical conditions, accuracy checking and more

• Expert support from dedicated NPA assessors

• Online knowledge and skills assessments, compiled into a digital portfolio

• Flexible payment options available. Successful completion leads to registration with the GPhC as a pharmacy technician.

NPA Learn Your Free Training Hub

The National Pharmacy Association’s online learning platform is available free to all members. With a library of hundreds of courses, NPA Learn supports every member of your team. Courses are designed to strengthen knowledge, build confidence, and support safer, more effective patient care.

And now it’s even simpler to get started. Thanks to new Single Sign-On (SSO) integration, you can log in directly through the NPA member portal — no extra accounts or passwords needed.

Why use NPA Learn?

• Free member benefit – save on training costs while building team skills

• Hundreds of courses across pharmacy practice, customer service, medicines safety, andmore

• Supports your Continued Professional Development (CPD) – every completed course can be recorded andtracked n your NPA Learn learning log

• Flexible e-learning – access at anytime to fit your schedule. Make the most of this powerful membership benefit.

Log in today via the NPA member portal and start exploring the NPA Learn training library.

Latest policy consultations

Did you know that the NPA responds to numerous governmental and NHS policy reviews each year? The latestinclude...

Serious Adverse Incidents – Department for Health NorthernIreland

NPA called for a more streamlined and simplified process for reviewing Patient Safety Incidents, to enable the completion of reviews in a timelier manner that applies across all health care providers including community pharmacies.

Processes should nurture an environment of “Being Open” that will encourage health professionals to be fully transparent throughout the review process while still allowing the appropriate level of accountability that is necessary.

Long-Term Conditions – Scottish Government

The NPA response included examples of innovative community pharmacy practice across the UK and emphasised the high level of trust the public have in community pharmacists and the wider team. Read more in this NPA blog: www.npa.co.uk/blog/why-pharmacy-can-support-long-term-conditions/

Men’s Health Strategyfor England - Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC)

The DHSC has issued a wide-ranging call for evidence to inform its proposed Men’s Health Strategy. In our submission, we highlighted the accessibility of community pharmacy and our expertise in offering targeted interventions to menand managing long-termconditions.

Benefits of NPA membership

The NPA is constantly adding value to its membership offer. For example, did you know that NPA members can now access enhanced DBS checks for employers at a discounted rate? If you are an NPA member, please make the most of your membership by leafing through the brochure on the NPA Membership hub and using the wide range of services on offer.