The number of pharmacists employed through the additional roles reimbursement scheme (ARRS) has risen for the eighth month in a row, according to new statistics.
The latest NHS England primary care network workforce figures show that primary care networks (PCNs) employed 44 more full-time equivalent (FTE) pharmacists in January 2026, bringing the total to 5,687.
This is also 4% higher than the 5,464 employed in same month the previous year.
The number of FTE pharmacy technicians has also grown month-on-month, up from 2,145 in December to 2,155 in January.
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The number of pharmacy technicians employed by PCNs has risen 8% year-on-year since January 2025, when there were 1,987.
The data, published on Thursday 26 February, also show that 1,034 FTE GPs were employed at PCNs through ARRS in January, up from 996 the previous month.
Meanwhile, the data shows that physician associate (PA) numbers dropped for the eighteenth consecutive month to 1,011 in January.
The Leng Review, which assessed the safety of the role, said it did not need to be scrapped, but suggested that the role should not remain as it is. Among its recommendations, it called for PAs to be renamed physician assistants.
Earlier this month, the BMA lost in the highest appeals court its attempt to challenge the GMC’s use of the term ‘medical professionals’ to describe physician associates (PAs).
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The Pharmacist’s sister title Pulse in January reported that more than three quarters of PAs (76%) said their scope of practice has been restricted since the publication of the Leng review.
GPs see continued increase
Separate figures that are based on ARRS claims data rather than the NWRS show that there were 3,164 GPs by headcount claimed through the scheme between 1 October 2024 and 31 January 2026.
The FTE figure at the end of December 2025 was 1,363.
However, NHS England said the figures for GPs hired through ARRS are subject to a data lag due to the short time period between the month end and the date of data extraction, meaning the figures are provisional and could change in the future.
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