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The Liberal Democrats have pledged to “work towards a fairer and more sustainable long-term funding model for pharmacies” in their manifesto for the 2024 general election.
The party also said in its manifesto, published on 10 June 2024, that it would “build on the Pharmacy First approach to give patients more accessible routine services and ease the pressure on GPs”.
Pharmacy First was launched in England at the end of January 2024, with NHS Business Services Authority data from its first month of operation showing that an average of 12 consultations were carried out per pharmacy.
The party also said it would “free up GPs’ time by giving more prescribing rights and public health advisory services to qualified pharmacists, nurse practitioners and paramedics”.
In the first of the major political party manifestos to be published in advance of the general election, due to be held on 4 July 2024, the Liberal Democrats also set out an intention to speed up access to new treatments.
As one of several measures intended to improve cancer care, the manifesto said it would halve the time for new drugs to reach patients, by expanding the capacity of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
The document said that if the party were in power, it would “seek a comprehensive mutual recognition agreement with the European Medicines Agency (EMA)”.
MHRA data from January 2024 showed that the agency was missing statutory deadlines for marketing authorisation by more than 100 days.
The UK left the jurisdiction of the EMA as a result of the UK leaving the EU in January 2020, with EU pharmaceutical law now applying only to Northern Ireland within the UK.
In May 2024, the House of Commons Health and Social Care Committee called for a complete overhaul of the community pharmacy contract, describing it as “not fit for purpose”.
Commenting on the manifesto, Janet Morrison, chief executive of Community Pharmacy England, said it had been urging all parties to commit to working to a sustainable funding model.
“Pharmacies are critical to the health and wellbeing of local communities, delivering high quality primary health services, and they have even more to offer if they are given the right support and investment to do so,” she said.
Paul Rees, chief executive of the National Pharmacy Association, said the promise to work towards a fairer and more sustainable long-term funding model for pharmacies was “excellent news”, which he hoped heralded “a growing political consensus around the need to properly support pharmacies to deliver better, more local health care for millions”.
“Their promise to build on the Pharmacy First approach to give patients more accessible routine services and ease the pressure on GPs also points to cross-party agreement that we need a stronger pharmacy network to support communities up and down the land,” he said.
Malcolm Harrison, chief executive of the Company Chemists’ Association (CCA), said he was pleased to see so many of the proposals the CCA had been calling for feature among the Liberal Democrat election pledges.
“We wholeheartedly welcome the manifesto’s call for a fairer and more sustainable long-term funding model,” he said.
“With a 30% real-terms cut in core funding since 2015 and nearly 1,200 closures in that time, the current funding framework is untenable.”
James Davies, director for England at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, said: “This is a welcome recognition of the key role of pharmacists to delivering patient care, listening to our campaign calls on issues such as pharmacist prescribing, patient records and sustainable funding.”
