Pharmacy First: Withholding Payments

Claire Young Excerpts

Thursday 12th February 2026 Commons Chamber

[Dr Ahmed]

The hon. Member is right that under the Pharmacy First programme, contractors receive a monthly fixed payment upon delivering a minimum number of consultations, as per the 2025-26 agreement. That can go up and down month to month, in a dynamic process, depending on how many patients are seen in pharmacies. I completely take his point that we are evolving our care system, and ensuring a move from hospital to community, but are not quite there yet; however, I think we are on the road. Through our neighbourhood health programme, we are solidifying the relationships between general practice, pharmacies, opticians and other allied health professionals in primary care.

[Claire Young (Thornbury and Yate) (LD)]

Not only are community pharmacies in my constituency facing problems with Pharmacy First payments, but pharmacies like Abbotswood Pharmacy tell me that they are not seeing the referrals that GPs are supposedly making. Pharmacies can take pressure off the NHS. Does the Minister agree that this combination of referral failures and payment delays is forcing patients to wait longer for care, and what steps will he take to ensure that both referrals and payments are successfully made?

[Dr Ahmed]

The hon. Member is absolutely right: we need to unblock some of the referral pipelines between GPs and pharmacies. We are absolutely clear in our instructions to the system that pharmacies are an integral and growing component of primary care provision, and that premise underlies all our discussions with pharmacies and GPs.