22.07.19
Five year funding framework for community pharmacy published
A five-year funding framework for community pharmacy has been published by the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC), Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and NHS England.
Commenting on the agreement, Malcolm Harrison, Chief Executive of the CCA, said: “The CCA is supportive of a five-year settlement for community pharmacy. While we recognise that a further five years of flat funding will present significant challenges to what is already a financially strained sector, we are encouraged by the direction of travel set out by the agreement.
“The CCA and its members have been calling for a more clinically focused contract framework in recent years. We hope that the Community Pharmacist Consultation Service will allow community pharmacists and their teams to continue to refocus the sector on the delivery of care.
“We believe it is now critical that all community pharmacies embrace the new urgent care services and engage with Primary Care Networks so that the sector is more integrated within the NHS. We are also pleased to see the use of the Pharmacy Quality Scheme to support the sector-wide agenda for patient safety improvement.
“There is much still to be agreed within this settlement. We look forward to working with our colleagues from across the sector, through the PSNC, to help develop what the new framework will mean for contractors.”
www.thecca.org.uk