Support pharmacists to deliver 10 year plan aspirations

There’s much to welcome in the 10 Year Health Plan for England. Few would dispute its three core ‘shifts’. Hospital to community. Analogue to digital. Sickness to prevention.

While these ambitions are not new, and the plan lacks detail on delivery, it does put pharmacy at the forefront of healthcare. Pharmacist prescribing, personalised medicines, investment in new treatments and innovation all signal a future where pharmacy plays a central role.

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) Vision for pharmacy professional practice in England outlined how pharmacists, across all areas of practice, can be part of the delivery of person-centred care closer to home. This aligns closely with the priorities in the 10 Year Plan. Pharmacists work alongside every step of the patient pathway and, with the right support, can transform population health, drive prevention and improve care across the NHS. The Plan rightly recognises the potential of pharmacist prescribing which needs accelerated support to unlock the profession’s potential and expand access to treatment.

Health secretary Wes Streeting’s call to view spending on new medicines and technology as an investment rather than a cost was echoed in the subsequent Life Sciences Sector Plan. Pharmacists and pharmacy services are key to realising that value and must be supported accordingly. That’s a message I reinforced when I attended the Government’s 10-Year Plan ‘Partners Council’ ahead of publication.

Reducing hospital admissions is a key goal of the proposed Neighbourhood Health Service. Pharmacists are essential to this. With ever-increasing prescription volumes, the National Overprescribing Review highlighted how pharmacists support the best use of medicines and reduce the potential for harm from problematic polypharmacy.

A recent study showed that adverse drug reactions account for 16.5% of total hospital admissions at a staggering cost of £2.21bn to the NHS. In contrast, the annual spend on the community pharmacy contractual framework (CPCF) has remained flat at £2.6bn over the last five years.

The 10-Year Plan talks about financial incentives and with community pharmacy left struggling, the latest uplift in the CPCF agreement is a welcome step in the right direction. At the same time, we have also seen structured medication reviews deprioritised in primary care network contracts, with members warning that pharmacists are being re-directed to other activities.

If we really are to focus more on prevention, including reducing the billions spent on avoidable hospital admissions, then pharmacy teams need to be enabled to play their part. The financial incentives must follow.

Better collaboration across secondary, primary and community care is vital, building on portfolio working and specialist pharmacists’ input, sharing their skills to support colleagues across the health service.

But this must not come at the expense of investment in hospital pharmacy services. Aseptic infrastructure is critical to the delivery of specialist cancer care and clinical trials, yet remains under-funded. It must be prioritised to meet growing demand. Similarly, delays in implementing electronic prescribing systems continue to hinder safety and efficiency.

There was much in the Plan about pharmacy’s growing clinical role, but delivering it depends on a supported workforce, including investment in digital skills and education and training to pave the way for the large-scale roll-out of pharmacogenomic testing and personalised prescribing. The forthcoming changes to supervision are a welcome step towards making the best use of skill mix. Pharmacists remain one of the most valued roles in the additional roles reimbursement scheme, and future workforce planning must reflect that.

Investing in pharmacists across all sectors is vital to ensure safe, equitable, and accessible care for patients. That’s why, after a long campaign alongside discussions with Government and NHS colleagues, I was delighted to see the news that pharmacy students will be able to access the Learning Support Fund, finally offering parity with other health professions for clinical placements. While this really positive news seems to have been lost amid the launch of the Plan, the details should now be communicated to students in good time.

Amid wider uncertainty within the NHS, including cuts at Integrated Care Boards, I’ve called on NHS England to ensure visible pharmacy leadership is retained across the system. Medicines are the most common NHS intervention. If we’re serious about reform, pharmacists must be at the table – shaping strategy, not just struggling to find ways of delivering it.