Funding for the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF) has been announced for the year 2021/22, year 3 of the 5-year deal.
The key announcements include:
- Funding will remain at £2.592bn
- New hypertension case-finding (From October 2021) and smoking cessation services (From January 2022)
- New Medicines Service expansion into more therapeutic areas and a new PQS for the year
- Revised PhAS in early 2022 and progression of regulatory changes to support dispensing efficiencies
Thorrun Govind, Chair of the English Pharmacy Board, said: “There are some positive steps on supporting pharmacists’ clinical role, including blood pressure diagnosis, and the expansion of the New Medicines Service.
“We know that community pharmacy can play a key role in helping manage increasing demand on the NHS, but collaboration and support for implementation will be key to making new services a success.
“Pharmacists have been on the frontline throughout the pandemic. We are disappointed that the positive impact demonstrated by community pharmacy has not been recognised through increased investment. This is a real terms funding cut delivered through the frozen core funding. Pharmacists working in community pharmacy will understandably be demoralised by this.
"Community pharmacy is an exciting and interesting place to work and pharmacists' clinical skills must be utilised long-term. The greater use of Pharmacist Independent Prescribers to expand patient access to care will support this and we look forward to publication of more details on additional funding for training.”
The arrangements were agreed by the PSNC, NHS England and NHS Improvement (NHSE&I) and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), in line with the five-year CPCF deal.
Read the announcement here.