NPA call on NHS England to give community pharmacy ‘new money’

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak will reveal the findings of his long-anticipated spending review.  It has been widely reported that there will be an uplift in the budget available to the NHS, to support the health service’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The National Pharmacy Association (NPA) has today written to NHS England’s chief executive, Sir Simon Stevens, asking that some of this new money is used to support the hard-pressed community pharmacy sector.

In his letter to Sir Simon, the NPA’s chief executive, Mark Lyonette warned:

“If the current pharmacy funding arrangements continue unchanged, many pharmacies [in England] will be unable to survive – limiting access to health services in villages, towns, urban areas and in rural communities. The inevitable result will be more pressure on the NHS.

“We were delighted to hear that the Chancellor will announce a further £3bn funding for the NHS in the Spending Review this week. We very much hope that some of this extra funding will be used to prevent the community pharmacy network falling over and help us keep the doors open for vital NHS care.”