Primary care leaders join forces in effort to 'transform investment into primary care'

Community Pharmacy England (CPE) has teamed up with other national primary care bodies to urge the government to allocate more funds towards the sector.

In a joint statement released on the back of the government’s spending review, last week, the organisations welcomed the government’s continued determination to ‘shift care from hospitals to community and from sickness to prevention’ but warned that this would not be possible ‘without further investment in primary care’.

“Primary care providers will be instrumental in driving this reform and are enthusiastic about working together to support these critical shifts,” said the statement.

“However, due to the pressures all parts of primary care are facing due to an historic focus on specialist settings, bureaucracy, and poor workforce planning by NHS England – as well as funding cuts to some of our sectors – it is clear there is little capacity to deliver the reforms needed, and improve the care people receive closer to home, without further investment in primary care.

“The decision regarding allocations within the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) budget is the single opportunity in this Parliamentary cycle to transform investment into primary care.”

The statement added that of the 1.5million patients treated by the NHS each day, over three quarters of these interactions take place within the primary care setting.

“We look forward to further details and meaningful actions to be announced in the coming days and we urge the Government to work closely with us, as your primary care bodies, to begin the long-term process to rebuild primary care and help deliver on the government’s priorities for the NHS as part of the 10 year plan.”

The healthcare leaders want the 10 year plan to include fully funded primary care expansion plans linked to investment directives and for primary care to play role in planning, designing and leading healthcare delivery.

As well as CPE, the statement was signed by the General Practitioner’s Committee England, the British Dental Association’s General Dental Practice Committee, the Optometric Fees Negotiating Committee and The National Association for Primary Care Audiology Providers.