The government has committed to a 'refreshed' workforce plan with a 'laser-focus on shifting care from hospitals and into the community', to be published in the summer.

This comes as the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has told The Pharmacist that community pharmacies 'will play a vital role helping to shift the focus of the NHS out of hospitals and into the community'.

Sector responses to the government's consultation on the 10-year-plan for the NHS had focused on the opportunity to utilise community pharmacies to deliver a 'neighbourhood health service' at the heart of local communities.

But the government's health 'milestone', announced last week, set a target of reducing hospital waiting list times, prompting concern that primary care and community services would be ignored.

In response, a DHSC spokesperson told The Pharmacist: 'Long waits for operations can be painful as well as disruptive to people’s daily lives. Driving down NHS waiting lists is a top priority for this government and pharmacies will play a vital role helping to shift the focus of the NHS out of hospitals and into the community, building a health service fit for the future. We will make better use of pharmacists’ skills, including introducing the rollout of independent prescribing to improve access to care.

'At the Budget, we announced a £26 billion boost for the NHS and social care. We are committed to working with the pharmacy sector and we will set out further details on allocation of funding for next year in due course.'

And this weekend, the government set out its intention to 'unveil a refreshed workforce plan in the summer with a laser-focus on shifting care from hospitals and into the community'.

It highlighted the Darzi review's findings that 'too much care is being delivered in hospitals because of historic underinvestment in the community'.

The government said that the expansion of the hospital workforce 'has come at the expense of other care settings'.

It noted that the proportion of the total NHS budget dedicated to acute hospitals 'has continued to rise', while the proportion of the NHS budget going to primary care 'has fallen by a quarter in just over a decade – from 24% in 2009 to just 18% by 2021'.

'Despite this significant flow of resources into hospitals, output has not risen at nearly the same rate and NHS productivity has still not recovered to pre-pandemic levels,' the government added.

Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting commented: 'Lord Darzi diagnosed the dire state of the NHS, including that too many people end up in hospital, because there aren’t the resources in the community to reach patients earlier.

'Our 10 Year Health Plan will deliver three big shifts in the focus of healthcare from hospital to community, analogue to digital, and sickness to prevention. We will refresh the NHS workforce plan to fit the transformed health service we will build over the next decade, so the NHS has the staff it needs to treat patients on time again.'

And Amanda Pritchard, chief executive of NHS England, added: 'The NHS is nothing without our incredible staff and having a sustainable workforce is a key building block for an NHS fit for the future – that’s why we committed to update the plan regularly so that it reflects the changing and growing needs of patients.

'While the NHS is delivering more care to patients in the community, with the expansion of virtual wards, community diagnostic centres and neighbourhood hubs, part of our longer term goal is delivering even more care out of hospitals, and we’ll work closely with the government to refresh the workforce plan, alongside the upcoming 10 Year Health Plan.'

Dr Leyla Hannbeck, chief executive of the Independent Pharmacies Association (IPA) said that as a key player in primary care, community pharmacy needed investment 'if the government wants to fulfil its plans for primary care to play a bigger role in reducing the burden on hospitals'.

'Our workforce need an investing in. We have for several years been asking for an ARRS scheme for community pharmacy to allow our sector to recruit a multidisciplinary team and use its accessibility to full potential,' she added.

And Paul Rees, chief executive of the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) urged the government to look at the workforce shortage across the whole of primary care.

'There’s a workforce crisis in community pharmacy because of chronic underfunding and closures; we need to look at this in the round if we’re to achieve the government’s sensible ambition to move care closer to communities.

'Pharmacies want to work with their GP colleagues, but they will be dismayed that there is still no progress on their immediate funding crisis, let alone plans to expand what they can do in the future. Sadly, patients are the ones who will lose out if we can’t get on with halting pharmacy closures and building towards a better future,' he told The Pharmacist today.

And the Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) welcomed the announcement, saying that it had 'serious concerns' about the methodology and data used in the previous plan.

'With a greater focus on NHS care being provided in primary care and in the community, and a drive to move away from analogue to digital, it is important that the new 10-year plan for the NHS is resourced appropriately to ensure safe and effective healthcare, with the right people delivering the right services for patients in the right places.

'Any new plan should be developed through engaging with workforce representatives from each major professional group so that aspects such as continual professional development and training, retention, and any assumptions (for example around using technology and AI) can be properly understood and evaluated,' a PDA spokesperson told The Pharmacist today.

In particular, the PDA said there needed to be 'a comprehensive and funded solution for the provision of supervision of those who will be independent prescribers (IPs)', as well as 'full consideration of those pharmacists who choose not to become IPs during the next ten years'.

Meanwhile Dr James Davies, director of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) in England said that pharmacy students must have equal access to the Learning Support Fund, while pharmacy teams should be supported with measures to reduce staff burnout, as well as investment in pharmacists’ training and development.

But he said the RPS was disappointed that pharmacists would have to wait until next summer for another update.

'The RPS campaigned to ensure that pharmacists were in the NHS long term workforce plan. They are central to reducing health inequalities and supporting the safe and effective use of medicines. Improved workforce planning is crucial to making this happen to ensure that we have the staff and skills we need, which is why we are disappointed that progress has been slow in delivering the plan,' he told The Pharmacist.

Janet Morrison, chief executive of Community Pharmacy England (CPE), said that 'any programmes of change' were welcome to help avert the crisis in the NHS.

And she stressed that the new workforce plan will 'need to be closely aligned' with the goals of the wider NHS 10-Year health plan currently under development.

'It is crucial that the community pharmacy sector is included in this – and all other upcoming – NHS strategies. Community pharmacy staffing pressures are persistent whilst morale is at an all-time low, pushing businesses to the brink and forcing professionals who love working with patients to consider leaving the sector altogether. Our Pharmacy Pressures Survey 2024: Staffing and Morale Report showed there are simply not enough pharmacists or wider pharmacy team members, and that this is having a significant impact on their workload.

'The community pharmacy sector could be a key player in helping resolve some of the biggest NHS challenges, but a workforce that is falling over does not support the delivery of quality patient care. If the Government truly wants to meet is healthcare ambitions around prevention, we must address the workforce shortages, as well as the critical funding constraints and capacity issues, in community pharmacy,' she said.

Graham Stretch, president of the Primary Care Pharmacy Association, also noted the need for 'properly resourced training capacity' to support workforce expansion.

'Training needs to be a central, protected and funded part of job plans for professionals in all settings. Supervisors need the resources, tools and time to perform this role as, not as an 'add on' to their jobs, but as a valued, recognised and integral part of their role specification and job descriptions.

'Furthermore, as a precursor to any of this, primary care infrastructure needs proper funding and remuneration, including core general practice and community pharmacy contractual arrangements.

'General practices and pharmacies are the bedrock upon which community care is delivered, there will not be the capacity and goodwill needed to deliver the supervision required for these vital increases in skilled workforce, to improve outcomes for our patients, until this is remedied,' he told The Pharmacist.