In Views

Follow this topic

Bookmark

Record learning outcomes

The NHS-commissioned economic analysis of community pharmacy finances must be published because public safety is at stake, says Nick Kaye…

As chair of the National Pharmacy Association, I hear from our members nearly every day asking me when the contract situation in England is going to get better.

The hardest part of my role is hearing about the hard decisions they are all making just to keep their businesses running but I have to be frank with them and say I don’t know what the new contract will say.

I hear rumours, as we all do, that there is an uplift coming but it is clear that after 11 years, a sizable investment in the sector is required.

NHS economic analysis of pharmacy finances must be published now

It is also clear that the current government has inherited a very difficult situation, despite the welcome investment in Pharmacy First.

So, what should the uplift be? What is the right quantum? Well, we all feel the shortfall every day, but it was good the hear that the NHS has been looking at its own analysis into the sector.

There’s been a lot of noise and speculation about the NHS-commissioned economic analysis of pharmacy finances.

I’ve been clear that this should be published now to inform public debate about the future sustainability of the pharmacy network. Why? Because this represents the biggest, most comprehensive analysis of community pharmacy finances in many years.

All of us have been saying that the sector is creaking and pharmacies are on the edge. That’s what NPA members tell me every day. Now we have analysis to prove it.

To be clear, I have not read this unpublished review. But I know many, many NPA members have been involved in its production and shared their accounts and experience.

If pharmacies fail in large numbers, lots of people are in big trouble

And I know it aimed to show the extent to which NHS services are financially sustainable, what the difference is between costs and funding and the extent to which community pharmacies are facing issues with financial sustainability.

Let’s be honest, we are talking about a sector which is an essential piece of our national health infrastructure. It’s like the roads, the water system or the electricity supply.

If pharmacies fail in large numbers, lots of people are in big trouble. It’s absolutely in the public interest that we show how bad things are.

It’s very important that we show just how bad the situation the government inherited is. And it provides a test that ministers must meet as they aspire, as they say they do, to sort this mess out through their own independent report.

There is no reason for the delay, whether or not there are consultations on pharmacy funding. This is an important issue of public safety and that deserves to be aired in public.

This doesn't undermine the position of friends and colleagues on CPE

And, crucially, it is an important lever to show why a sensible uplift in funding is needed now. Why should we wait to give this important information a public airing? We have a right to know now.

Although I have been challenged on this in public and in private, I don’t believe this undermines the honourable position of those many friends and colleagues and valued NPA members who serve on the sector’s negotiation body.

They have a duty to abide by the rules they have been given. We need to back them to do their best for the rest of us while we maintain maximum public pressure on the Government and the NHS to treat our sector fairly.

They are doing their utmost to support our sector and do the right thing. We may not all agree on the tactics and there is room for different approaches.

But it’s essential we stick together as a profession and make that case together that pharmacies need investment to survive.

Nick Kaye is chair of the National Pharmacy Association and a community pharmacist based in Newquay. These are his personal views.