Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to increase the number of community pharmacists.

The Government will make sure the National Health Service has the staff it needs to be there for all of us when we need it. We have launched a 10-Year Health Plan to reform the NHS. A central part of the 10-Year Health Plan will be our workforce and how we ensure we train and provide the staff, technology and infrastructure the NHS needs to care for patients across our communities.

In summer 2025, we will publish a refreshed Long Term Workforce Plan to deliver the transformed health service we will build over the next decade, and treat patients on time again.

Employers clearly have a key role in retaining staff and making jobs in community pharmacy attractive. To support employers, NHS England has provided several fully funded national training opportunities for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians to help support private contractors deliver quality NHS services, including Pharmacy First.

NHS England is keeping the Pharmacy First service under close review. In addition, a National Institute for Health and Care Research evaluation of Pharmacy First will assess how the service has been implemented across England, including impacts on prescribing in the general practice setting, use of hospitals and how the service has impacted access to care and cost for different patient groups.

The Pharmacy First clinical pathways have been informed by guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and were designed with input from an expert panel of clinicians. NHS England is keeping the clinical scope of this service under review.