The announcement has been presented as a way to give patients quicker access to care and reduce pressure on other parts of the NHS. The PDA supports the ambition to make better use of pharmacists’ clinical skills and to improve timely access to treatment for patients. However, it says that ambition will only be realised if the service is properly planned, staffed, and resourced.
The expansion of pharmacist prescribing is not a simple add-on to existing pharmacy work. It involves clinical assessment, decision-making, prescribing, record keeping, communication with other healthcare professionals, and appropriate follow-up. Each of these activities requires time, professional focus, suitable facilities, and an appropriate team around the pharmacist.
The PDA is therefore calling for the expansion of services to be accompanied by clear workforce and operational commitments. This includes moving towards a more than one pharmacist model in pharmacies delivering expanded clinical services, as well as ensuring there are enough trained support staff, appropriate consultation rooms, suitable premises, robust governance arrangements, and protected time for clinical activity.
If patients are encouraged to regard community pharmacy as a faster walk-in route to treatment, but pharmacies are not resourced to meet that demand safely, the policy risks failing to deliver its own objective. It could also increase the likelihood of frustration, conflict, and complaints when patients cannot be seen quickly, when a consultation does not lead to a medicine supply, or when pharmacists must prioritise patient safety over unrealistic expectations.
The PDA has previously highlighted concerns from frontline pharmacists about workload, staffing, patient expectations and pressure linked to the Pharmacy First Service. Pharmacists are already managing dispensing, clinical checking, supervision, public health services, medicines advice, and operational pressures. Adding more clinical pathways without increasing workforce capacity risks placing further strain on an already stretched profession.
The PDA believes pharmacists, through their recognised workforce representatives, must be involved from the outset in the design, development, and implementation of new NHS pharmacy services. The PDA is already representing members in this way who are employed by the NHS through the NHS Staff Side arrangements. The experience of those delivering care on the frontline is essential to ensuring that new pathways are realistic, safe, and sustainable in practice, not just attractive in policy announcements.
Without appropriate safeguards, raising public expectations could add pressure, conflict and professional exposure for pharmacists rather than improving access to care.
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