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The Pharmacists’ Defence Association (PDA) has warned of a “concerning trend” of fewer pharmacists per community pharmacy who are expected to manage increasing service volumes.
A report published by the PDA on 3 June 2026 compares data from the 2025 NHS England Community Pharmacy Workforce Survey (CPWS), as well as datasets from NHS Business Services Authority, the GPhC and the Primary Care Workforce Quarterly Update.
The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) register shows a continued yearly increase in the number of registered pharmacists, from 51,435 in 2022 to 57,050 in 2026. However, the PDA report notes that the CPWS, published in May 2026, shows a reduction in full-time equivalent (FTE) pharmacists working in community, from 20,255 in 2021 to 17,415 in 2025 “despite the substantial rise in service volume in the same period”.
In 2021, the average number of FTE pharmacists per community pharmacy was 1.80, it says, but this had reduced to 1.66 by 2025.
The PDA also say that while the number of community pharmacists has decreased, “full time equivalent (FTE) pharmacists working in primary care have increased by approximately five thousand between 2021 and 2025”, and secondary care data “shows an increase of approximately 2,000 pharmacists in period 2021–2026”.
The report said that “given the significant settlement recently announced by the government, the PDA urges community pharmacy employers to utilise the extra funding to increase the number of pharmacists working in their premises so that they can continue to deliver the services the public needs safely, and without placing their own health and wellbeing at risk”.
It also said that independent prescribing “is a golden opportunity for community pharmacy to truly embed itself within neighbourhood settings and for this to occur there must be investment in workforce capacity”.
Malcolm Harrison, chief executive of the Company Chemists’ Association (CCA), said: “This shrinking workforce reflects the challenges facing the sector and raises serious concerns about capacity, the ability to meet increasing patient demand, and the long-term sustainability of community pharmacy. Increasing pharmacist numbers in the sector will only be possible if there is sufficient funding to support it.”
Harrison added: “While we welcome the recent uplift in funding, much of this is likely to be absorbed by rising operational costs, many of which have been imposed by this government.
“There is an urgent need to close the pharmacy funding gap. To secure the future sustainability of the sector, the government must commit to a roadmap of above-inflation, year-on-year funding increases to ensure that the contractual framework actually covers the true costs of delivering NHS pharmaceutical care.”
