By Harry McQuillan, Numark Chairman
With the NHS 10-Year Plan now published, attention rightly turns from vision to delivery. And if we are serious about realising the full potential of community pharmacy, we must put meaningful partnerships at the heart of that delivery.
Community pharmacy does not need convincing of its value, we see it daily in our interactions with patients. What we need is a health and care system that consistently sees pharmacy as a full partner, not a peripheral provider. That means building relationships based on trust, shared priorities, and mutual accountability.
We have seen what’s possible when these relationships work. In Scotland, the strength of our primary care networks and local planning structures has enabled community pharmacy to embed itself within multidisciplinary teams, delivering real results in prevention, early intervention, and the management of long-term conditions.
This must become the norm, not the exception. Across the UK, there is more work to do to break down the historical silos that fragment care. Pharmacies, general practice, community services and social care must operate as one team around the patient. That collaboration cannot be transactional, it must be strategic and rooted in shared ambition.
Access to records, interoperable systems, shared referral pathways, and a consistent presence at local decision-making tables, these are the building blocks of genuine integration. And they are only possible through partnership.
We also need to build partnerships within pharmacy itself. If we are to meet the clinical and commercial demands of the future, we must invest in our people, our leadership, and our collective voice. Independent pharmacies, multiples, LPCs, and representative bodies all have a part to play if we work together.
At Numark, our mission is to help members thrive through this transition. Our 12 Principles for the Future of Pharmacy Practice start with one clear commitment: that community pharmacy must be an essential and integrated part of the wider primary care team. That integration can only happen through sustained collaboration with commissioners, with general practice, and with one another.
This is a moment of real opportunity. The policy is broadly aligned. The public already trusts us. Now we need to strengthen the partnerships that will make progress possible, because community pharmacy cannot deliver change alone, and the system cannot deliver change without us.
