The Future of Community Pharmacy report

News - 24 November 2025

The All Party Parliamentary Group on Pharmacy have published a report making seven recommendations to the government.

The Future of Community Pharmacy in England report is based on evidence from Healthwatch England and other stakeholders.

Here's a summary of the report's recommendations:

  1. Provide a long-term funding settlement and modernise the pharmacy contract.
  2. Harness the untapped potential of community pharmacies to enable them to function as 'fully integrated local health hubs'.
  3. Expand Pharmacy First into a national, walk-in clinical service, covering a wider range of conditions.
  4. Tackle workforce issues and ensure enough supervisory capacity is available to oversee graduates, who will all, from September 2026, enter the workforce with independent prescribing qualifications.
  5. Give pharmacists clinical autonomy to substitute drugs in short supply, instead of being restricted to those covered by national serious shortage protocols.
  6. Better integrate pharmacy with other parts of the NHS, included joined-up IT with GP practices, better representation within integrated care systems and new national commissioning standards.
  7. Leverage community pharmacy to enhance the management of long-term conditions.

 

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