Key Summary
- RCPharm has shared its written evidence to the Health Bill Committee, stressing the need to embed pharmacy expertise into planned NHS structural changes.
- It warns that the abolition of NHS England and the transfer of functions to Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) could fragment medicines governance and safety.
- Key proposals include giving pharmacists full access to the proposed Single Patient Record, evaluating the potential for a “performers list”, and abolishing prescription charges in England.
The Royal College of Pharmacy (RCPharm) has urged MPs to ensure pharmacy expertise is embedded at the heart of incoming NHS reforms.
The College warned that proposed structural changes to the NHS in England must not overlook the profession’s central role in improving access to care, driving prevention, and facilitating medicines optimisation.
Measures in the planned legislative framework include the abolition of NHS England, the transfer of its operational functions to either the Secretary of State or individual Integrated Care Boards (ICBs), and the dissolution of both Healthwatch England and local Healthwatch bodies. The Bill also introduces enabling frameworks for the creation of a Single Patient Record.
The NHS England spends more than £19 billion annually on medicines, making it the health service's second-largest expenditure behind the workforce.
With functions moving directly to ICBs, the College highlighted critical risks to patient care, system performance, and financial sustainability if strategic oversight is lost.
Without executive-level senior pharmacy leadership embedded across every ICB, the College warned that critical public health actions – such as addressing overprescribing, curbing antimicrobial resistance, and managing high-cost treatments – could become operational afterthoughts.
It also notes that ICBs have faced significant budget disruptions, and national funding for community pharmacy clinical leads has not been renewed.
As the third-largest professional group in healthcare, comprising over 67,000 pharmacists and 28,000 pharmacy technicians, the workforce is seen as critical to achieving the ambitions of the government’s 10 Year Health Plan.
With thousands of pharmacists now qualifying as independent prescribers, the College argues that localised clinical models must be backed by clear system strategy rather than a postcode lottery.
RCPharm England Chair Prof Mahendra Patel OBE said: “The Health Bill presents a real opportunity to shape how care is provided for patients in the decades ahead.
“As MPs scrutinise the Bill, pharmacy teams must be recognised as central to delivering the 10-Year Health Plan. They already increase access to care closer to home and support prevention strategies.
“We are urging the Government to ensure pharmacy expertise remains embedded in decision-making, so patients can get the right care, in the right place, at the right time.”
While the College welcomed the progression toward a Single Patient Record to ensure vital data follows patients across care environments, it said that pharmacists should be granted full access from the outset.
It also called for robust digital inclusion policies and patient consent safeguards to maintain public trust.
Additionally, the College reiterated strong opposition to the prescription payment system in England, which costs patients over £650 million annually.
Suggesting that more than a third of pharmacists (35%) have reported an increase in patients declining critical medications due to the £9.90 cost, the College urged the government to abolish the charge completely to prevent avoidable hospital admissions.
As pharmacists adopt increasingly advanced clinical responsibilities, the Health Bill seeks to transfer power to create a primary care “performers list”.
While a performers list for pharmaceutical services could provide a collaborative mechanism to assure clinical competence outside of fitness-to-practise regulator referrals, the College noted that any implementation would require thorough stakeholder engagement to avoid this being a blunt performance management tool.
RCPharm also called for the urgent publication of the long-awaited NHS workforce plan to address severe operational strains, noting that 86% of pharmacists remain at a high risk of burnout.
The College stressed that the upcoming framework must safeguard staff wellbeing, guarantee protected development time, resource Designated Prescribing Practitioners (DPPs), and extend the NHS Learning Support Fund to pharmacy students to remove unfair financial barriers.
The committee has been meeting to debate the legislation line by line, and today (16) marks the final scheduled day of the committee debates.
The committee held its final morning and afternoon public debate sessions today and is expected to report back to the House of Commons.
