The Community Pharmacy England (CPE) has said that in its most recent sector polling in November, 82 percent of pharmacy owners expressed concern over the way their business was going into this winter season.
Unpredictable revenue stream and workforce costs were cited as the biggest challenges.
Among the participants representing 3,533 pharmacy premises in England, 71 percent said they were neither over-resourced nor under-resourced for the winter season.
Around one in six (16 percent) felt they don’t have enough resources to meet demand, while 13 percent said they are at the other end of the scale.
When asked about the challenges, the key issues they cited were: staff capacity is extremely fragile; financial pressure is preventing staffing and service expansion; and demand is increasing while system support is weak.
The pharmacy owners said the funding model is broken.
The core contract sums are failing to keep pace with rising costs, low service fees, cashflow fragility, and administrative burdens from medicine supply issues.
They called for greater transparency, stable reimbursement, and stronger advocacy from CPE.
The pharmacy owners said there is a misalignment between service delivery and system design, including limited GP–pharmacy collaboration, strict vaccine eligibility rules, unworkable hub-and-spoke arrangements for independents, and gaps in structural enablers such as prescribing and extended minor ailments services.
They said the workforce is under strain, with recruitment and retention challenges, rising locum costs, burnout, and deferred estate and IT investment affecting both staff wellbeing and service quality.
Hub and spoke
About 7 out of 10 (69 percent) pharmacy owners report actively using hub-and-spoke dispensing, mostly seen in larger pharmacy chains (multiples) that already use this system across all their branches (same legal entity).
Among those not using hub and spoke, the opinions were mixed: around 36 percent are exploring their options, 10 percent haven’t considered it yet, and 46 percent have considered it but concluded it isn’t right for their business.
CPCF talks
CPE hopes that in the upcoming CPCF negotiations would result in a sustainable future for the sector.
Chief executive Janet Morrison said, “As we reach the end of the year, community pharmacy owners and their teams find themselves exhausted, with no break in sight as they work through some of the busiest days of their year.
"As our polling has repeatedly shown throughout the year, lots of pharmacies are quite literally hanging on by a thread as they work to deliver the medicines and services that millions of people rely on every day.
"On behalf of patients and communities everywhere, thank you to everyone for all the incredibly important work that you do, and the resilience that you show to keep going, day in and day out.
"As I said last month: the need for sustainability of the network remains urgent, with untold risk to the safety of medicines supply and the healthcare support that pharmacies provide and the communities that rely upon them if the current pressures persist. We have very clear evidence of the value of pharmacy, the case for investment in pharmacy, and the depth of the crisis the sector still finds itself in."
