Economic Updates at the IPA Event April
Navigating the challenging economic climate for pharmacies
The pharmacy sector experiencing challenging times is an understatement. There are now less than 10,000 pharmacies in England, the lowest it has been in over twenty years. The population is growing but bricks and mortar community pharmacy is in decline. The CCA, who represent the larger pharmacy operators in England, such as Asda, Boots, Superdrug, Tesco etc., have also revealed that many supermarkets will be closing or removing pharmacy services, another blow to communities requiring pharmacy support.
The latest announcements that include the abolishment of NHS England and the new CPCF funding deal have been a huge point of debate and frustration for the pharmacy sector.
As members of the Independent Pharmacies Association, EMT went along to the latest event at the Belfry on 10th April to learn more.
Economic Review
The Department of Health and Social Care have retrospectively increased funding for 2024-2025 by £106million to £2.698bn and increasing it again for 2025-2026 to £3.073bn and was described as a substantial increase in investment.
Leyla Hannbeck, CEO of Independent Pharmacies Association, didn’t hold back when describing the economic outlook, describing it as grim with widespread financial distress, closures, cashflow and increasing operational costs.
The promise of innovations such as Hub and Spoke haven’t delivered the savings that were originally perceived, and the ‘cash injection’ which is projected by the CPE as £5,342 additional income is hugely exaggerated as it doesn’t take into consideration hikes in National Insurance and the services that pharmacies have delivered to communities without any extra funding. In fact it was clear many pharmacies were not just struggling with cash flow, but in fact cash burn.
Taking Action
The IPA have expressed concern about the current deal and have been taking proactive steps, from having face to face meetings with the Treasury, and not just discussing the problems, but also offering solutions on how to save the taxpayer money. Conversations have also taken place with the people behind calculating and allocating funds to social and healthcare, highlighting the importance of pharmacy in social care.
IPA made it clear they will continue to lobby to close the funding gap, ensuring they will have a seat at the table in every sector where care exits to ensure the sustainability of primary care.
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