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As part of the new ‘Community pharmacy contractual framework’ (CPCF) for 2024/2025 and 2025/2026, community pharmacies should be contracted to deliver structured medication reviews, according to a report by Public Policy Projects.
‘How medicines optimisation contributes to population health‘, published on 12 February 2025 by policy institute Public Policy Projects, calls for community pharmacy to have an increased role in medicines optimisation to improve health outcomes and reduce pressure across the healthcare system.
The report, chaired by Minesh Parbat, chief pharmacist at NHS Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin Integrated Care Board (ICB), is based on discussions at a roundtable held in May 2024, involving ICB and NHS trust chief pharmacists, pharmacy policy experts, National Pharmacy Association board members and pharmacy technicians.
“During contract negotiations, Community Pharmacy England (CPE), NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) should consider how the CPCF could be expanded to enable community pharmacy to deliver medicines reviews,” the report said.
“By capitalising on community pharmacy’s frequent interactions and strong relationships with local communities, enabling the sector to conduct medicines reviews would reduce pressure across systems and allow patients more flexible and convenient access to care.”
The DHSC announced on 28 January 2025 that negotiations on the CPCF had started.
Community pharmacies have been operating under old contractual arrangements since the previous CPCF expired in March 2024, with the government attributing the delay to negotiations not getting “over the line” before the July 2024 general election.
The Public Policy Projects report has also recommended that community pharmacy should take a central role in delivering public health interventions, including all routine adult vaccines; that NHS England should integrate community pharmacy into enhanced access service delivery; and that a minimum of two pharmacists should be working at any one time in a community pharmacy: one to support medicines supply and the other to support the delivery of clinical services.
Commenting on the report, Leyla Hannbeck, chief executive of the Independent Pharmacies Association, said: “These calls are not new. We have consistently maintained for many years that community pharmacy can play a greater role in the prevention agenda — for example, leading on vaccination services, help manage long-term conditions and medicines optimisation.
“All of these are very laudable objectives, which can only be achieved by adequate resources in funding.”
- This article was amended on 18 February 2025 to remove a sentence stating that Community Pharmacy England had set a timeline for concluding contract negotiations between April and June 2025, which was incorrect. Please see further information here.
