Asked by: Wes Streeting (Labour - Ilford North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate she has made of the number and proportion of prescriptions that were written by pharmacists in each of the last five years.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Health Service does not currently commission prescribing services from community pharmacists but pharmacists working in other NHS settings, including general practices, can prescribe on the NHS.
The following table show the total number of items prescribed, the number of items prescribed by a pharmacist, and the percentage this equates to in terms of overall prescribing in England, in each of the last five years:
Year | Total number of items | Items prescribed by a pharmacist | Percentage of items prescribed by a pharmacist |
2019 | 1,118,845,270 | 22,089,868 | 1.97% |
2020 | 1,122,769,640 | 30,824,967 | 2.75% |
2021 | 1,128,633,578 | 36,145,631 | 3.20% |
2022 | 1,162,723,444 | 40,701,768 | 3.50% |
2023 | 1,203,435,207 | 45,713,123 | 3.80% |
Source: NHS Business Services Authority
The number of pharmacists that are independent prescribers is increasing. From 2026 all newly qualified pharmacists will be prescribers and we are upskilling the current workforce. NHS England are piloting services with varying models to evaluate how this could work in future clinical services in community pharmacy. In future, prescribing in community pharmacy has the potential to unlock more clinical services in community pharmacy, taking further pressure off general practice.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of pharmacy closures on the quality of primary care in St Helens constituency since 2019.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
On 31 December 2023, there were 18 pharmacies in St Helens North constituency. Between 31 March 2019 and 31 December 2023, no pharmacies closed in St Helens North, and no new pharmacies opened. This year, there has been one closure in February 2024, as a result consolidation. Consolidation is a merger of two pharmacy businesses, and does not create a gap in the provision of pharmaceutical services.
Access to pharmaceutical services remains good, with 95% of the population of St Helens North living within a 20-minute walk from a pharmacy. This exceeds the national average of 80%. Residents of St Helens North can also access services from distance selling pharmacies that operate nationally.
It is the role of local authorities in England to undertake pharmaceutical needs assessments for their areas, every three years, to ensure provision continues to meet their population’s needs. Integrated care boards (ICBs) have regard to those assessments when commissioning services, and where a pharmacy closure impacts the access to services, a new contractor can apply to open a pharmacy in the area.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many complaints have been received by the NHS England South West Complaints Team in each of the last six months; how many emanated from the Dorset Integrated Care Board; and how many of those have been outstanding for more than two months.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The South West Complaints Team transferred from NHS England to the NHS Somerset Integrated Care Board (ICB), who now host the NHS South West Collaborative Commissioning Hub, on 1 July 2023. This followed the delegation of pharmacy, optometry, and dentistry associated complaints on 1 April 2023. The following table shows the number of complaints the South West Complaints Team received, and the proportion that were investigated for NHS Dorset ICB, each month from October 2023 to March 2024:
Month | Total received | Number from NHS Dorset ICB |
October 2023 | 181 | 25 |
November 2023 | 196 | 31 |
December 2023 | 119 | 21 |
January 2024 | 208 | 29 |
February 2024 | 191 | 44 |
March 2024 | 156 | 32 |
Total | 1,051 | 182 |
Of the 1,051 total complaints, 86 have been outstanding for more than two months. Of the 182 complaints from NHS Dorset ICB, 14 have been outstanding for more than two months.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions she has had with community pharmacists on supporting people with (a) smoking and (b) vaping (i) addiction and (ii) dependency.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Quitting smoking is the best thing a smoker can do for their health and smokers are three times as likely to succeed with stop smoking services (SSS) when compared to an unsupported quit attempt. As announced in Stopping the start: our new plan to create a smokefree generation, published in October 2023, the Government is investing an additional £70 million per year for five years to support local authority-led SSS, around doubling current spend and supporting 360,000 people to set a quit date each year. Local authorities commission a variety of settings, including community pharmacy, to deliver SSS. In 2022/23, 12,165 of the 176,566 quit dates set through SSS were in a pharmacy setting. Since March 2022, hospitals have been referring patients to community pharmacy to continue the stop smoking journey they started in hospital as part of the NHS Smoking Cessation Service in community pharmacies agreed by the Department, NHS England and Community Pharmacy England. Across the country, 4841 community pharmacies have signed up to deliver the service.
In addition, we are establishing a financial incentives scheme to help pregnant smokers and their partners to quit smoking, with smoking cessation support. This evidence-based intervention will encourage pregnant women to give up smoking, and remain smokefree throughout pregnancy and beyond, helping to improve the health and wellbeing of both mother and baby.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the long-term financial viability of community pharmacies in rural areas.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The below table shows the total number of community pharmacies that have closed and opened in rural areas in England, as defined by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’ Guide to applying the Rural Urban Classification to data, each year from 2019 to 2023:
Year | Number of rural pharmacies closed | Number of rural pharmacies opened |
2019 | 13 | 3 |
2020 | 6 | 1 |
2021 | 8 | 8 |
2022 | 8 | 3 |
2023 | 13 | 8 |
Community pharmacies are private businesses, contracted to provide National Health Service pharmaceutical services. My Rt hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care is responsible for ensuring that patients can access medicines, and the Department is monitoring changes to the market closely. In areas where there are fewer pharmacies, the Pharmacy Access Scheme provides financial support to the pharmacies that are present.
Every three years, local authorities in England undertake pharmaceutical needs assessments for their areas, to ensure provision continues to meet their population’s needs. Integrated care boards have regard to those assessments when commissioning services, and where a pharmacy closure impacts access to services, a new contractor can apply to open a pharmacy in the area.
When a local pharmacy closes, patients can choose to access pharmaceutical services through any alternative pharmacy, including any of the over 400 distance selling pharmacies that are required to deliver medicines to patients free of charge. In some rural areas, doctors are permitted to dispense medicines.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many community pharmacies in rural areas closed in (1) 2019, (2) 2020, (3) 2021, (4) 2022, and (5) 2023.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The below table shows the total number of community pharmacies that have closed and opened in rural areas in England, as defined by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’ Guide to applying the Rural Urban Classification to data, each year from 2019 to 2023:
Year | Number of rural pharmacies closed | Number of rural pharmacies opened |
2019 | 13 | 3 |
2020 | 6 | 1 |
2021 | 8 | 8 |
2022 | 8 | 3 |
2023 | 13 | 8 |
Community pharmacies are private businesses, contracted to provide National Health Service pharmaceutical services. My Rt hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care is responsible for ensuring that patients can access medicines, and the Department is monitoring changes to the market closely. In areas where there are fewer pharmacies, the Pharmacy Access Scheme provides financial support to the pharmacies that are present.
Every three years, local authorities in England undertake pharmaceutical needs assessments for their areas, to ensure provision continues to meet their population’s needs. Integrated care boards have regard to those assessments when commissioning services, and where a pharmacy closure impacts access to services, a new contractor can apply to open a pharmacy in the area.
When a local pharmacy closes, patients can choose to access pharmaceutical services through any alternative pharmacy, including any of the over 400 distance selling pharmacies that are required to deliver medicines to patients free of charge. In some rural areas, doctors are permitted to dispense medicines.
Asked by: Taiwo Owatemi (Labour - Coventry North West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what medications have been reimbursed to community pharmacies below the market price for pharmacy procurement in (a) 2021, (b) 2022, (c) 2023 and (d) 2024.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The information requested is not held centrally. Community pharmacy reimbursement arrangements, set out in the Drug Tariff, are not designed to pay every individual pharmacy the cost, or more than the cost, of the medicine. This means that at an individual level, there will be instances where a pharmacy pays more than they are reimbursed, and other instances where they are paid less than they are reimbursed.
The medicine margin survey assesses the amount of medicine margin, the difference between the reimbursement price and the price the pharmacy was charged by the supplier, retained by community pharmacies. The survey has found that overall, more than the amount agreed as part of the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework, has been delivered in total across the previous four financial years.
In addition to this, where a number of pharmacies cannot purchase at or below the Drug Tariff reimbursement price, the Department considers concessionary price requests that come directly from the Community Pharmacy England, on behalf of community pharmacies. From 1 April 2024, we introduced a new retrospective top-up payment for concessionary prices, providing an additional payment to contractors when the margin survey indicates that despite a concessionary price, there was an under payment.
Asked by: Taiwo Owatemi (Labour - Coventry North West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an estimate of the number of pharmacies that have closed in Coventry North West constituency since 2019; and if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of pharmacy closures on primary care standards.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
On 31 December 2023, there were 22 pharmacies in Coventry North West constituency, including one distance selling pharmacy. Between 31 December 2019 and 31 December 2023, two pharmacies closed in Coventry North West and no new pharmacies opened. However, access to pharmaceutical services remains good, with 97% of the population of Coventry North West living within a 20-minute walk from a pharmacy. This exceeds the national average of 80%. Residents of Coventry North West can also access services from distance selling pharmacies that operate nationally.
It is the role of local authorities in England to undertake pharmaceutical needs assessments for their areas, every three years, to ensure provision continues to meet their population’s needs. Integrated care boards (ICBs) have regard to those assessments when commissioning services and where a pharmacy closure impacts on the access to services, a new contractor can apply to open a pharmacy in the area.
Services within the National Health Service delivered in community pharmacy can have a positive impact on secondary care. For example, the Discharge Medicines Service and the New Medicine Service provide patients with extra support for medicines preventing (re)hospitalisation. Urgent and emergency care settings can also refer patients to community pharmacies for a minor illness consultation or an urgent medicine supply, taking the pressure off secondary care. Increasing the impact of these services, which are already commissioned in community pharmacies, will require continued embedding of referral in secondary care pathways.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to help improve patient access to primary care services.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Our Delivery plan for recovering access to primary care has two central ambitions to improve access to general practice (GP): tackling the 8:00am rush and reducing the number of people struggling to contact their practice; and for patients to know on the day they contact their practice, how their request will be managed.
We are doing this by modernising telephone systems, backed by £240 million in retargeted funding, and by building the capacity to deliver more appointments. As a result, we have now delivered on our manifesto commitment for 50 million more GP appointments per year, with 370.7 million booked across the last 12 months.
There is an increasing number of clinical services that are being delivered in community pharmacy, including the New Medicines Service, Contraception Service, Blood Pressure Check Service, Stop Smoking Service, and most recently the new Pharmacy First service. These services help take the pressure off GPs, and make it quicker and easier for patients to access care.
Furthermore, our plan to recover and reform NHS dentistry will fund approximately 2.5 million additional appointments. The plan sets out our actions to address the challenges facing National Health Service dentistry, and to improve dental access for patients across the country. A new patient premium is supporting dentists to take on new patients, and a new marketing campaign will help everyone who needs an NHS dentist in finding one. We have further supported dentists by raising the minimum Units of Dental Activity rate to £28 this year, making NHS work more attractive and sustainable.
Asked by: Taiwo Owatemi (Labour - Coventry North West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of increasing funding for community pharmacies on funding for secondary care.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
On 31 December 2023, there were 22 pharmacies in Coventry North West constituency, including one distance selling pharmacy. Between 31 December 2019 and 31 December 2023, two pharmacies closed in Coventry North West and no new pharmacies opened. However, access to pharmaceutical services remains good, with 97% of the population of Coventry North West living within a 20-minute walk from a pharmacy. This exceeds the national average of 80%. Residents of Coventry North West can also access services from distance selling pharmacies that operate nationally.
It is the role of local authorities in England to undertake pharmaceutical needs assessments for their areas, every three years, to ensure provision continues to meet their population’s needs. Integrated care boards (ICBs) have regard to those assessments when commissioning services and where a pharmacy closure impacts on the access to services, a new contractor can apply to open a pharmacy in the area.
Services within the National Health Service delivered in community pharmacy can have a positive impact on secondary care. For example, the Discharge Medicines Service and the New Medicine Service provide patients with extra support for medicines preventing (re)hospitalisation. Urgent and emergency care settings can also refer patients to community pharmacies for a minor illness consultation or an urgent medicine supply, taking the pressure off secondary care. Increasing the impact of these services, which are already commissioned in community pharmacies, will require continued embedding of referral in secondary care pathways.