Pharmacy minister Stephen Kinnock has called the National Pharmacy Association (NPA)'s proposed collective action 'premature, unnecessary and detrimental to community pharmacy patients'.

And he urged the NPA to 'reconsider its position' and wait for the outcome of funding negotiations with Community Pharmacy England (CPE).

Mr Kinnock added that the negotiations had been 'constructive' and 'will come very shortly'.

But NPA chair Nick Kaye responded that the NPA was 'not seeking conflict with the government' and would recommend action 'only if a sensible deal doesn’t emerge by April 1'.

Mr Kinnock's comments came in response to a question from shadow parliamentary under secretary for health and social care, Dr Luke Evans, who repeated calls for the sector's economic review to be published immediately.

In the House of Commons yesterday, the Conservative MP for Hinckley and Bosworth asked: 'Now that the secretary of state is abolishing NHS England, will he listen to the calls from the National Pharmacy Association and the Independent Pharmacies Association, and publish immediately the independent report commissioned by NHS England on pharmacies’ finances?'

Mr Kinnock responded: 'We will publish the economic analysis imminently.'

The Labour MP for Aberafan Maesteg added: '[Dr Evans] mentioned the National Pharmacy Association, which gives me the opportunity to say that I think that the collective action that it is taking is premature, unnecessary and detrimental to community pharmacy patients. I urge the NPA to reconsider its position and wait for the outcome of our negotiations with the CPE, which will come very shortly. We will announce that very soon.'

In response, Dr Evans said that the NPA had 'been waiting for months to get the answer'.

And he suggested that the proposed action had been prompted by anger over the National Insurance rises outlined in the last budget.

Dr Evans asked: 'What contingency plans does the Department have to ensure that we keep patients safe if pharmacies close their doors in industrial action next week?'

Mr Kinnock responded: 'On the NPA, it has taken us a while to clean up the utter mess that we inherited in community pharmacy. That involved agreeing financial envelopes and getting into negotiations with CPE. Those negotiations have been constructive, and I am delighted to confirm again that we will soon announce the outcome of those negotiations.

'What we see here is the shadow minister apparently taking the side of people taking collective action in a premature way that is detrimental to patients. They would be better off waiting for the outcome. The government are taking industrial relations into the 21st century, as opposed to the performative nonsense that we saw for 14 years.'

Earlier this month, the NPA advised its members to give notice on 1 April that they would be reducing their opening hours or otherwise reducing pharmacy services, with a new funding deal for the sector still yet to be announced.

In response to the minister's comments, NPA chair Nick Kaye told The Pharmacist today that it would recommend action such as reducing opening hours 'only if a sensible deal doesn’t emerge by April 1'.

He added: 'It’s several months since we balloted members and we’ve always been clear that collective action would be a last resort.

'We’re absolutely not seeking conflict with the government, whose aims we support, such as shifting more healthcare from hospitals into the community and focusing on prevention.

'But given the crisis Ministers have inherited, we have to be ready to back members who feel they have no choice but to take action, to make savings in order to protect services for patients.'

Hub and spoke changes to come into force 'later this year'

During yesterday's debate, Mr Kinnock also confirmed that the government intended to lay draft secondary legislation on hub and spoke dispensing 'in the coming weeks', which would to come into force 'later this year'.

In December, Mr Kinnock confirmed that the government was 'working towards introducing legislation to enable hub and spoke dispensing between different legal entities in 2025'.

He added: 'This change will be enabled via amendments to both primary and secondary legislation, and is subject to the usual parliamentary processes.’