The reproduction “R” number of Covid-19 in the United Kingdom remains between 0.9 and 1.1, the government said on Friday (August 28), indicating that the rate of infection is most likely either broadly stable or slightly growing.
The latest growth rate for the whole of the country is between - two per cent and one per cent, the government said, meaning the number of new infections is somewhere between shrinking by two per cent and growing by one per cent every day. (Reuters)
The surgeries will have additional space to “see more patients, boost productivity and improve patient care”
Over 1,000 GP surgeries will have their premises modernised to meet the needs of a further 8.3 million appointments each year, the government has announced.
Backed by a cash injection of over £102 million, the surgeries will have additional space to “see more patients, boost productivity and improve patient care”.
The government said this latest step is part of its £26 billion investment into the NHS and a part of its Plan for Change campaign to shift care out of hospital and into the community.
“It will be a long road, but this government is putting in the work to fix our NHS and make it fit for the future,” said health and social care secretary, Wes Streeting, said:
“These are simple fixes for our GP surgeries but for too long they were left to ruin, allowing waiting lists to build and stopping doctors treating more patients.
“It is only because of the necessary decisions we took in the Budget that we are able to invest in GP surgeries, start tackling the 8am scramble and deliver better services for patients.
“The extra investment and reform this government is making, as part of its Plan for Change, will transform our NHS so it can once again be there for you when you need it.”
Lord Darzi’s independent report found that outdated, inefficient buildings create barriers to delivering high-quality patient care and reduce staff productivity.
“Our last survey of members found that 2 in 5 GPs considered their premises unfit for purpose. This not only makes for a poor experience for both patients and practice staff, but it restricts the care and services a practice can provide. Nearly 90 per cent of respondents to our survey said their practice did not have enough consulting rooms, and three-quarters did not have enough space to take on additional GP trainees” said professor Kamila Hawthorne, chair of the Royal College of GPs.
“Today’s announcement is an encouraging interim measure that shows the government is listening and acknowledges that inadequate GP infrastructure needs to be addressed. We now need to see this followed up by further long-term investment.”
The investment will allow GP surgeries to create new consultation and treatment rooms whilst also making better use of existing space.
Projects will be delivered during the 2025 to 2026 financial year, with the first upgrades expected to begin in summer 2025.
In Norwich, Prospect Medical Practice - serving nearly 7,000 patients in some of the city’s most deprived areas - will create new clinical rooms to deliver more patient consultations.
In the Black Country, vacant office spaces in Harden Health Centre will be converted into clinical consulting rooms, allowing more patient access to primary care.
“Bringing GP premises up to a similar condition across England is important to improve patient experience of NHS services, while making primary care a better working environment as we seek to retain and recruit more staff,” said Dr Amanda Doyle, national director for primary care and community services.
“It will also help to create additional space and extend the capacity of current premises as we improve access further and bring care closer to the communities where people live as part of the 10 Year Health Plan.”
![Potential Side Effects of Mounjaro [What You Need to Know]](https://www.pharmacy.biz/media-library/image.jpg?id=54516976&width=1245&height=700&quality=90&coordinates=0%2C29%2C0%2C29)
The sore throat test (STTT) and treat service will be widely available
Two key clinical services will be available in 99 per cent of community pharmacies across Wales after a boost in funding.
The sore throat test (STTT) and treat service and the urinary tract infection (UTI) service have both benefitted from contractual negotiations between the Welsh Government and Community Pharmacy Wales (CPW).
"This is fantastic news for patients, improving access to trusted, convenient care through their local community pharmacy. Community pharmacists already play a vital role in supporting their communities, and it’s encouraging to see that role increasingly recognised through investment in services such as STTT and the UTI,” said, Elen Jones, Royal Pharmaceutical Society director for Wales and England, said:
“Patient feedback on both services has been overwhelmingly positive. They not only provide care closer to home but also make the best use of pharmacists’ clinical expertise.”
Research has suggested that the treatments of STTT services in pharmacies has led to better use of antibiotics.
Research led by Dr. Efi Mantzourani found that 24 per cent of consultations through the Welsh pharmacy-led STTT service resulted in an antibiotic supply, compared to 39 per cent of GP consultations. For every 100 patients presenting with a sore throat at an STTT pharmacy, there was a reduction of approximately 15 to 18 antibiotic prescriptions.
Jones said this highlighted the critical role community pharmacy plays in the public health and called for that to reflected in improved funding for the sector.
"While this announcement is very welcome, it’s important to acknowledge that community pharmacy is under significant pressure,” she said.
“As we highlighted to politicians, together with CPW at the Senedd in 2024 and earlier this year following the results of our workforce wellbeing survey, pharmacy teams must be supported with adequate resources, protected time for training, and sustainable workloads to ensure these services can be delivered effectively and safely."
Independent prescribing will be a “significant point” in the history of community pharmacy, according to Royal Pharmaceutical Society chief executive Paul Bennett.
Last month, the RPS announced the launch of a comprehensive new prescribing development programme to support pharmacists across all stages of their prescribing careers.
The initiative comes ahead of the NHS mandate that every newly qualified pharmacist will be an independent prescriber by 2026 — a change set to transform the future of pharmacy practice.
“It will be a significant point in our profession’s history when we look back on it,” said Bennett.
“The latest figures suggest 30 per cent of registrants are now independent prescribers. There has been a building cohort of independent prescribers, which will get a boost in 2026 when more come on stream.”
Open to RPS members, the programme will begin on 23 June 2025 and run for 18 months.
It will offer practical, ongoing support for pharmacists who are new to prescribing, returning to practice, or looking to expand their scope.
The programme will cover six themes, changing the theme every three months.
Each quarter, participants will explore a new theme through flexible, bite-sized learning formats, including podcasts, blogs, webinars, and e-learning modules available via RPS Learn.
They will also be able to build a personalised prescribing portfolio and track their development using the RPS Competency Framework for Prescribers.
“It was an area of organisational focus for us significantly last year - building this prescribing competency framework that outlines the skills and the behaviours that are needed for safe and effective prescribing.
“It's full of very helpful advice, points you to where other support can be obtained from, as well as our own materials. I highly commend it to anybody who is considering becoming an independent prescriber and needs support and guidance and advice on their journey.”
Last month, the government announced the new Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF) for 2025/26 in England.
With an annual funding commitment of £3.073 billion, an increased medicines margin, and improved service fees, the new contract provides security and potential opportunities for community pharmacies to expand their role in delivering high-quality healthcare.
As a community pharmacist, Bennett he realises the importance of the contract providing a level of much-needed security for the sector.
“The royal pharmaceutical society readily recognises pharmacists as being crucial to supporting the best use of medicines across the whole of the system. The government and the NHS, we believe must ensure that that value is recognised through appropriate community pharmacy funding,” he said.
“We have a legitimate interest in a vibrant community pharmacy sector being maintained out, some would say, now to be re-established because of the challenges of the last few years, in particular in order to support patient and public access to professional advice and to medicines.
“As the Department of Health and NHS England work to develop the 10 Year NHS plan, we've continued to make representations that warnings of pharmacy closures must be addressed so that patients can continue to access a resilient community pharmacy network.”
As part of the discussions around a Royal College of Pharmacy, the RPS undertook a series of face to face events that ranges from Aberdeen to Plymouth. There were 15 face to face events country and a series of webinars.
“Every single one of those road shows, without exception, there was a recognition from those who attended, a need for support for career progression, post registration, education and credentialing was a very hot topic,” said Bennett.
He added that a Royal College would continue to develop clear pathways to support pharmacists from foundation level through to consultant level practice.
The RPS currently sets national standards with a core, advanced pharmacist curriculum that helps pharmacists develop advanced skills across the domains of care, leadership, education, research and practice. Pharmacists can achieve RPS advanced credentialing to demonstrate advanced level practice and become consultant ready.
“It's not only about that advanced level, it's at various career stages which people say they need and rightly deserve support to enable them to be the best they can be at that point in their career with an eye on where they want to go, where they want to develop their professional practice in the future,” said Bennett.
“We also support that through our training and mentoring services that are thriving, and we'll be providing a new learning platform soon that enables on demand, access to skills development in a wide range of clinical topics at a time that is convenient for our members.
“We will be providing a career pathway - the support, the assessment and the credentialing infrastructure to enable people to demonstrate their competence which I hope will be rewarding for them, rewarding for the profession, and beneficial to patients in the public too. This feels like a really important area for us to be investing in.”
Bennett is confident that community pharmacists have the skills and knowledge to play a key role in the government’s 10 Year NHS plan.
“I'm excited by the prospects for community pharmacy and it's clinical evolution,” he said.
“I have become increasingly interested in the application of tools such as artificial intelligence, and also really excited by the notion of personalised medicines and pharmacogenomics, and how community pharmacists as practitioners with that really close relationship with their patients, can help make sure that personalised medicines have the greatest possible beneficial effect.”
It could take another four years for assisted dying to become law
Pharmacists will not be forced to be a part in assisted dying cases with the MP leading the campaign expected to made amendments to the bill which is currently going through parliamentary process.
Kim Leadbeater, the MP behind the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, will say that “no person is under any duty to participate in the provision of assistance”.
The draft legislation currently states that doctors and other health professionals can refuse to take part. The new amendment will mean that pharmacists and any other staff involved in the process can say no and under employment law, they cannot be dismissed or face disciplinary action as a consequence.
“I promised during the lengthy committee hearings into the Bill that I would look at how we could extend the ‘opt-out’ provisions and that is what I will be proposing this week. As a result, nobody will be at risk of any detriment to their careers if, for any reason at all, they chose not to take part,” said Leadbeater.
“Not all people working in and around the health and care sector would want to participate in the provision of assisted dying”.
In a historic vote last year, MPs backed a bill to allow assisted dying, paving the way for Britain to follow other countries such as Australia, Canada and some U.S. states in what would be one of its biggest social reforms in a generation.
Under the proposed law, mentally competent, terminally ill adults in England and Wales with six months or less to live would be given the right to end their lives with medical help.
Polls show that a majority of Britons back assisted dying and supporters say the law needs to catch up with public opinion.
But following the initial vote in November, the bill is now under scrutiny and needs to work its way through both the House of Commons and the upper chamber, the House of Lords.
Amendments mean implementation will take more than the two years originally forecast, said Leadbeater.
The most notable amendment will remove the requirement for a High Court judge to sign off each case and instead rely on a panel of experts, including a senior legal figure, psychiatrists and social workers.
Setting up a voluntary commission of experts will take longer than simply referring cases to the High Court.
But Leadbeater said the law could be implemented before 2029: "Four years is very much a backstop, it is not a target."
If it did take until 2029, it could be pushed back until after the next national election, which must be held by August of that year, putting it at the mercy of the next government.
Negotiations continue on the Global Sum element of remuneration.
Community Pharmacy Scotland (CPS) has accepted the Scottish government’s initial financial offer for the 2025/26 fiscal year, securing a guaranteed minimum reimbursement of £120 million for community pharmacies — up from £110 million from 2024/25.
The agreement marks the first phase of ongoing negotiations surrounding community pharmacy funding for the upcoming financial year.
CPS and the Scottish government agreed to begin negotiations with the initial focus on reimbursement arrangements to prevent a delay on this part of the deal, whilst discussions on the Global Sum element of remuneration continue.
The guaranteed reimbursement figure has seen steady increases in recent years, previously rising from £100 million in 2023/24 to £110 million in 2024/25.
In addition, the value mapped from the Scottish Drug Tariff has been increased by £20 million, from £80 million to £100 million, which CPS confirmed will be delivered as “guaranteed service income.”
CPS chief executive Matt Barclay said: "We agreed with Scottish Government to work on what we could with the financial package when we could.”
“This is effectively the first part of the deal, supporting network cashflow in the event of a medicines market downturn linked to the Drug Tariff through the Guaranteed Minimum and crucially mapping further guaranteed money to support strategic service lines for patients.”
“We are continuing to work hard to get more resource into the contract in line with the CPS Board objectives for 25/26.”
Olivier Picard, chair of the National Pharmacy Association (NPA), welcomed the agreement as “good news” for pharmacies across Scotland, stating that it will help maintain “a strong network amid rising costs.”
“National insurance and national minimum wage increases have added to the pressures facing pharmacies alongside growing medicine costs and inflation that has affected every business in Scotland.”
“It is reassuring that CPS will be closely monitoring pharmacies’ cashflow to ensure our sector remains sustainable.”
He emphasised that the pharmacy network is vital for millions of people who rely on it for medicines, health advice and treatment on their doorsteps.
“So, it’s important to see commitment from the Scottish Government to maintaining this crucial service and seeing it flourish in the years ahead.”
CPS welcomed the recognition given to the pharmacy network in the recently published First Minister’s NHS Operational Improvement Plan, which acknowledges the key role of pharmacies in delivering NHS Pharmacy First Scotland.
“CPS are delighted to see that the network's huge contribution to patient care is being noticed by government and expansion sought to deliver even more care through our reliable network.”
“The CPS Team will work to meet the commitment made in the plan and improve access to care through the pharmacy network,” it added.
Further announcements regarding the complete financial settlement for 2025/26 are expected in due course, as negotiations continue.
