Plans were put in place to cut 6% from the funding of community pharmacies in England in October 2016. However, David Mowat, the minister for community health and care, announced on the 5th of September that the plans were on hold while the ministry deliberated and assessed whether the decision is in the interest of the pharmacists, the NHS and the public. There was no indication of when a decision would be made, but the hope is that any planned cuts will be dropped altogether, and perhaps even reversed.

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Praise for the Role of Community Pharmacies

In his video speech at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s annual conference, Mowat praised the role of pharmacists and recognized that their role now goes much further than just dispensing medicines. He acknowledged that the pharmacy profession is well placed to make great contributions towards the future of health care within the NHS.

The chief executive of the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC), Sue Sharpe, was encouraged by the minister’s deliberations, as was Ian Strachan, chairman of the National Pharmacy Association. Both associations are committed to a growing role for the community pharmacy.

For pharmacies to grow in the right direction, they may need the advice of experts in business development. Services that offer pharmaceutical consulting contract out experienced personnel in the pharmaceutical trade to help pharmacists make the transitions needed and to develop a competitive, interactive and community-based business. Their experience guides business owners in their planning process so that they don’t have to make the mistakes that others have previously made and that allow the business to proceed with confidence.

The Changing Role of Pharmacists

Community pharmacies are what used to be known as chemists and are still situated in the high streets of villages, towns and cities country-wide. They may be found as small owner-run pharmacies or placed inside large superstores. Over the last few decades there has been a change in the role of the pharmacist from their original jobs as dispensers of medicines collecting medicines from the range of shelving similar to garage shelving sourced from https://www.garage-shelving.co.uk to a much fuller role of developing clinical services and becoming integrated within the NHS. By spreading their wings to cover a greater number of clinical functions, community pharmacies could become the solution to many of the challenging problems that the NHS faces today.