WRITTEN STATEMENT
BY
THE WELSH GOVERNMENT
TITLE
The future funding of community pharmacy services in Wales
DATE
20 October 2016
BY
Vaughan Gething, Cabinet Secretary for Health, Wellbeing and
Sport
Today, the UK Government announced proposals to cut the funding available to community
pharmacies in England from 1 December 2016. The cuts amount to a reduction of 4% to the
sector in England in 2016-17 and over 7% in 2017-18.
Following the announcement, I want to clarify the position in Wales.
Let me be clear, the community pharmacy sector is a fundamental part of a strong primary
care service. This is why the programme this government set out in Taking Wales Forward
commits to invest in community pharmacies to take pressure off our GP services, reducing
unnecessary appointments and making sure people are able to see the right professional in
the right setting at the right time.
As a demonstration of our commitment to invest in realising the benefits of the community
pharmacy network, earlier this month we began to roll out the Choose Pharmacy IT system
to community pharmacies in Wales. Starting with all pharmacies in Betsi Cadwaladr and
Cwm Taf university health boards, Choose Pharmacy will roll out to over half of pharmacies
in Wales by March 2018 and will fully integrate community pharmacy with GPs and
hospitals. This will provide pharmacists with access to people’s individual health records,
enable discharge information to be transferred from hospitals to a patient’s nominated
community pharmacy and facilitate commissioning of the common ailment service by health
boards.
However you will know that since 2005, the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework
has been agreed on an England and Wales basis. I therefore understand the cuts in
England are of concern for pharmacy contractors in Wales. Let me reassure you, the health
and social services budget in Wales for the current and next financial year does not include
any proposals to reduce investment in community pharmacy.
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That said the changes provide an opportunity to reflect on whether the considerable
investment we make in the sector currently, delivers a community pharmacy service which
will meet the needs of the people in Wales in the future.
In the longer term, maintaining the current level of investment will be conditional on new
arrangements for community pharmacies. New arrangements must ensure that community
pharmacies: provide a greater range of clinically focused services; demonstrate a
commitment to improving service quality; contribute to reducing medicines waste; utilise skill
mix and automation more effectively to release time for pharmacists to deliver
pharmaceutical care, both in and out of the pharmacy; and commit to workforce
development and improvements in IT infrastructure.
I have asked my officials to consult, with Community Pharmacy Wales, on how these
priorities will be delivered and how pharmacies in Wales will begin the transition to a more
clinically focused service from April 2017. I will make a further statement to Assembly
Members once the consultation has concluded.
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