The role of community pharmacy is ‘central’ to the future of the NHS, the new chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for pharmacy has said while mooting upcoming ‘opportunities’ for the sector.

Labour MP for Exeter Steve Race was speaking at a parliamentary event hosted by the Independent Pharmacies Association (IPA) this week when he recognised the challenges within community pharmacy and the need to ensure the sector is ‘sustainably financed’ going forward.

The event, held in the Houses of Parliament on Tuesday evening and attended by parliamentarians, put a spotlight on the contributions of pharmacists across the country, including during the Covid pandemic and through their clinical skills more widely.

Mr Race, who will chair the new post-election APPG for pharmacy, said it was his job to work with MPs to ensure they are ‘armed with the arguments, the information and the opportunities to make the case for all of community pharmacy’ in the coming years.

He noted that the government’s upcoming budget ‘will be tough’ and that the NHS was also in a ‘tough position’.

‘But there are also going to be opportunities coming,’ the pharmacy APPG chair told attendees.

Pointing to the findings of the recent Darzi review and comments from the health and social care secretary, Mr Race said it was clear that primary care, and ‘specifically pharmacy’, has ‘such an important role to play in the future’.

‘Be that case finding, be that conditions management, be that an expanded fully-utilised Pharmacy First scheme – all of these things that you can do and do do are based in healthcare, based in communities that often are underserviced by GPs,’ he said.

‘You are the first place that lots of people want to go to talk to a healthcare professional, and we need to make sure that we have that really resilient, but importantly sustainably financed sector to make sure that you can continue to play that role.’

He added: ‘I’m here to work with you. We're not going to turn everything around overnight, but I hope that you've seen that the role that community policy has to play is really central to future of the NHS.’

IPA chief executive Dr Leyla Hannbeck also gave a speech at the event in which she welcomed the new government’s commitment to shift funding into primary and community care, and to focus on prevention.

But she stressed that there must be a strategy around investing to save.

‘And that is when community pharmacy comes to play. Because if you invest in community pharmacy, right at the heart of communities, you will save money for the taxpayer, that’s for sure. Because we are champions of the prevention agenda,’ said Dr Hannbeck.

She added: ‘Our sector is very resilient, our sector is agile, and it is trusted by members of the public.

‘Let’s not waste any precious opportunity to integrate the sector into primary care and [more] widely within our healthcare system.’

It was ‘impossible for any part of the NHS to innovate itself out of a crisis and community pharmacy is no different’, she told attendees.

Turning to the issue of funding, Dr Hannbeck highlight the ongoing delays to the community pharmacy contractual framework.

‘A settlement from April 2024 is still outstanding and our sector is suffering,’ she said.

‘Our community pharmacies need funding, and a settlement would enable them to pay their debts… and make sure that they have that headroom to do the great services that we know they can do.’

Also this week, an Opposition Day debate in parliament drew attention to 'struggling' community pharmacies dispensing at a loss.