Workforce growth masks capacity gap that threatens NHS ambitions, says report
The NHS’s ambition to deliver more care closer to home is at risk unless community pharmacy has the workforce capacity needed to deliver it, a new report has warned.
In its new report, Delivering the 10-Year Plan – A Review of the Community Pharmacy Workforce – the Community Pharmacy Workforce Development Group (CWDG) warns that headline workforce growth is not translating into greater capacity in community pharmacy.
Record numbers are studying pharmacy, entering training and joining the professional register. But this is not leading to the workforce capacity community pharmacy needs.
Community pharmacy now has less workforce capacity than it did four years ago. The number of FTE community pharmacists has fallen by 14% since 2021, while the number of FTE pharmacy technicians has fallen by 11%.
This decline has been driven by a range of factors, including: significant recruitment into hospitals and general practice; a shift towards more part-time working; and growing numbers of pharmacists pursuing careers outside the NHS.
As a result, the sector could need thousands more pharmacists simply to maintain current capacity. This is even before accounting for rising demand or the significant expansion of community pharmacy’s role envisioned in the NHS 10 Year Plan.
The CWDG is calling on the government and NHS to develop a long-term, system-wide pharmacy workforce strategy as part of the upcoming NHS workforce plan. The Workforce Plan, it said, must not rely on a simple assumption that more students will automatically lead to more registrants, or that more registrants will automatically increase workforce capacity.
Instead, the CWDG says the plan must reflect the realities of a changing community pharmacy landscape by:
1. Matching workforce supply to projected demand for existing services, alongside the service expansion envisaged in the 10-Year Health Plan
2. Recognising changing working patterns and career pathways, and account for the subsequent impact on workforce capacity
3. Ensuring that workforce policies implemented in other parts of the NHS do not unintentionally destabilise other sectors
4. Supporting the retention, development and career progression of pharmacy team.
5. Providing sustainable funding for both core and additional services, enabling employers to invest in the workforce capacity required to meet growing demand.
Marc Donovan, healthcare development director at Boots and chair of The Community Pharmacy Workforce Development Group, said:
“The headline workforce figures paint a positive picture. More people are studying pharmacy, undertaking training and joining the professional register.
“But those numbers mask what is happening on the ground. Community pharmacy's capacity is shrinking, with fewer full-time equivalent pharmacists available to deliver patient care than four years ago.
“If the NHS wants community pharmacy to do more, it must plan for the workforce needed to do it. Otherwise, we risk building plans for expanded patient care on capacity that simply isn’t there.”
Responding to the report, Henry Gregg, chief executive of the National Pharmacy Association said: "The report is right that although the pharmacy workforce has grown in recent years, its masks significant challenges and a falling number of FTE pharmacists is concerning, with more and more pharmacists finding careers outside of community pharmacy.
"However, the work of pharmacists and wider pharmacy teams is changing drastically, including new developments in prescribing, AI, a rise in automation and the development of hub and spoke models in some pharmacies.
"We agree that the NHS must do more to help manage these changes and support the pharmacy workforce to flourish, improving retention in the sector. This could include commissioning more prescribing in community pharmacies, utilising the skills many pharmacists are developing to provide more services to patients."