In Views

Follow this topic

Bookmark

Record learning outcomes

Independent pharmacy stands at a defining moment and the opportunity in front of us has never been clearer, insists Harry McQuillan...

With approaching 13,000 pharmacies embedded in communities across the UK, accessible without appointment, clinically skilled and deeply trusted, we already represent one of the most significant assets in the health system.

Across the UK, the strategic direction is increasingly aligned, care must become more local, preventative, and integrated. In England, the ambitions of NHS England’s Long Term Plan continue to reshape delivery towards prevention and neighbourhood care.

In Scotland, recent agreements have provided a four per cent uplift in the global sum for community pharmacy in 2025-26, alongside guaranteed minimum income measures, helping to stabilise funding and support expanded clinical services.

Delivering accessible, preventative, clinically-led care

In Wales, the community pharmacy contractual framework for 2025‑26 included increased investment and priorities that reward pharmacy teams for delivering accessible, preventative, clinically-led care, building on the existing cluster-based model and focusing now on clinical service expansion.

In Northern Ireland, a new strategic plan for community pharmacy and the launch of a community pharmacy palliative care network are strengthening the role of pharmacies within neighbourhood care pathways and local integration.

If we are to fully realise our role in prevention, long-term condition management and have patients treated in the most appropriate setting and, as a bi-product, easing pressure on general practice and urgent care, wherever in the UK we are, we must make a change towards purposeful workforce redesign. We must seek to build a model that reflects the clinical contribution pharmacy teams are ready to make.

Encouragingly, across all four nations, independent prescribing, case-finding initiatives, and prevention-led interventions are now increasingly embedded, providing pharmacists the tools to shape pathways from the outset and ensure services are safe, efficient, and genuinely patient-centred.

Make the whole system stronger and more resilient

Infrastructure will be a critical enabler. Integrated IT systems and interoperable access to patient records are no longer aspirational, they are essential requirements for safe, modern care. Investment in connectivity will unlock productivity, enhance patient safety, and make the whole system stronger and more resilient.

This is an area where the four UK countries find themselves at different stages in this journey, with England at the top of the league table, followed by Wales, then Scotland and Northern Ireland with a bit to go.

Workforce strategy also presents a significant opportunity. As multidisciplinary neighbourhood teams take shape, pharmacists are well placed to be recognised as central clinical contributors. Education and training pathways are evolving in every nation, and the move to independent prescribing as the norm for newly qualified pharmacists represents a profound and positive shift.

Commissioning and workforce planning must now enable pharmacists and pharmacy technicians to practise at the top of their competence. Clear clinical career pathways and deeper integration with wider primary care teams will ensure the system benefits fully from the capability that already exists.

This has to be in harmony with an effective medicines supply process rooted in the community pharmacy setting, with the network truly managing repeat prescribing and supply. As prescribers, the initial clinical assessment and intervention of making a repeat supply should sit with us.

Sustainable funding must underpin this transformation. Contractual frameworks across the UK are evolving to support service delivery, prevention, and clinical care alongside dispensing. Investment and stability provide the confidence to invest in people, technology, and premises, creating a foundation upon which transformation can be built.

If we seize this moment, community pharmacy will not simply contribute to neighbourhood health services, it will help lead them.

The opportunity is UK-wide. The capability is proven. The future is ours to shape.

Harry McQuillan is the chairman of Numark.