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Pharmacies: Government Funding — [Mr Clive Betts in the Chair]
09 September 2026
Lead MP
Shivani Raja
Responding Minister
Diana R. Johnson
Tags
EconomyTaxationEmploymentBusiness & TradeNHS
Word Count: 12841
Other Contributors: 13
At a Glance
Shivani Raja raised concerns about pharmacies: government funding — [mr clive betts in the chair] in Westminster Hall. A government minister responded.
Key Requests to Government:
Raja asked the government to address four specific areas: reimbursement reform to reflect actual market acquisition prices, contractual and operational certainty in the CPCF, business overhead and rates relief, and workforce and capacity support to ensure independent pharmacies have the direct resource and funding needed for clinical roles.
How the Debate Unfolded
MPs spoke in turn to share their views and ask questions. Here's what each person said:
Lead Contributor
Opened the debate
Shivani Raja highlighted the significant financial challenges facing community pharmacies in Leicester East and across the country. She mentioned that there has been a 19.5% increase in online pharmacies since 2021, but the closures of independent pharmacies are due to structural financial strains. Since 2016, England has lost roughly 1,000 pharmacies, which is an 8% decline. In Leicester East, the local provision has dropped from 32 pharmacies to 29, a net loss of 9%. She also pointed out the reimbursement model's failure for medicines, the disparity in business rates relief between pharmacies and other small high street businesses, and the struggle between rising operating costs and fixed incomes. Additionally, she mentioned the acute workforce crisis in pharmacies, with 60% of pharmacy teams reporting active staffing shortages.
Mid Sussex
Community pharmacies in Mid Sussex are vital, offering preventive and community-based care. Pharmacies help manage conditions locally and reduce hospital admissions. Funding for community pharmacies has fallen over the past decade, leading to financial pressures. Community pharmacies have saved almost 2,000 GP appointments through Pharmacy First, but need a long-term sustainable funding model.
Ben Coleman
Con
North West Durham
Congratulates the hon. Member for Leicester East (Shivani Raja) on securing the debate. Suggests that pharmacies should play a bigger role in offering MMR vaccinations to help combat measles outbreaks, which are increasing due to a decline in MMR vaccinations.
Clive Betts
Lab
Sheffield South East
Order. Six Members have indicated that they want to speak, so that means they have about seven minutes each. I would normally advise Members to bob if they want to speak in the debate, but two Members have indicated that they have challenging circumstances, so I will exempt them from that requirement on this occasion.
Edward Morello
Con
West Dorset
Community pharmacies in West Dorset, serving 94,000 people, face financial and workforce pressures, with pharmacies reporting six-figure annual shortfalls. Since January 2024, pharmacies have helped avoid 8,737 GP appointments. Edward Morello highlighted a 16% increase in NHS prescription items dispensed between 2015-16 and 2025-26, despite a £800 million real terms funding decrease. He also mentioned a 15% net loss of bricks-and-mortar pharmacies since 2017. He called for a funding formula that recognises rurality, population age, workforce pressures, and the costs of serving sparsely populated communities. Edward Morello thanked the Minister for agreeing to meet to discuss the issues raised and asked if officials would consider the amendments he tabled to the Health Bill, which could deliver the necessary powers. He also inquired if the Government would support these amendments in the Lords.
Gagan Mohindra
Con
South West Hertfordshire
Pharmacies are crucial for primary care and face unsustainable pressure due to increased costs. Over 600 neighbourhood pharmacies have closed in the past year, and community pharmacies receive no equivalent compensation for NHS services despite providing them daily. A pharmacy dispensing 10,000 items monthly faces a £56,000 shortfall against inflation. The delayed Pharmacy First payments and reduced business rates relief exacerbate the financial strain.
Gregory Stafford
Con
Farnham and Bordon
Community pharmacies in Farnham and Bordon dispense 142,000 prescriptions monthly and deliver 6,500 flu vaccinations. The financial burden on pharmacies includes higher national insurance, minimum wage, business rates, and inflation, with funding for community pharmacies £800 million less in real terms in 2025-26 than in 2015-16. The Government's Pharmacy First scheme should be expanded to cover more conditions, and pharmacies need additional funding and support for independent prescribing. The Government must recognise the cumulative impact of policies and support the pharmacy workforce and supply of medicines.
Jim Shannon
DUP
Strangford
Jim Shannon highlighted the importance of community pharmacies, particularly in Northern Ireland, and the financial pressures they face. He noted that 90% of the work carried out by the average community pharmacy is funded by the NHS, and cited a warning from the National Pharmacy Association that up to 63% of pharmacies could close in 2026. Shannon also emphasized the role of pharmacies in providing first-line defence against minor injuries and their contribution to reducing the workload on GPs and A&Es. Community pharmacists in Strangford are using their own money to subsidise their pharmacy and keep the business going due to their compassion and concern for their customers and patients.
Lee Dillon
Con
Newton Abbot
He highlighted the critical role pharmacies play in rural areas, citing west Berkshire as England's 'pharmacy desert'. He noted the scarcity of pharmacies per head of population in his constituency and the financial strain on pharmacies due to rising drug prices, with some pharmacies paying 14 to 15 times more for prescription medicines than at the start of the year. He emphasised the need for sustainable funding and reforms to support pharmacies in fulfilling their expanding roles within the NHS. Lee Dillon asked whether the Government could pro rata the costs for pharmacies, meaning that they are paid only on the percentage of their profit that comes from serving the NHS.
Lee Pitcher
Ind
Wansbeck
Lee Pitcher intervened to note the importance of pharmacy services for people with neurological or mental health conditions, emphasising that the loss of these services due to financial pressures could have significant impacts on residents' lives. Pharmacists often inform Lee Pitcher that people are unaware of the services they provide, highlighting the need for increased awareness and promotion of these services, both current and future.
Rachel Gilmour
Con
Tiverton and Honiton
Highlights the need for more pharmacies in her constituency, currently having three in Tiverton when four are needed, to ensure adequate provision of services.
Rishi Sunak
Con
Rishi Sunak praised the role of independent community pharmacies, highlighting their importance in providing flexible and accessible healthcare. He cited statistics showing that about 80% of those over 65 have visited their local pharmacy in the past three months. Sunak also discussed the evolution of pharmacists' roles, from dispensing prescriptions to providing primary healthcare and treatment for minor illnesses. He mentioned the introduction of services like hypertension and blood pressure checks, medicine use reviews, and flu jabs. Sunak questioned how to raise awareness of Pharmacy First and expand its services, suggesting looking into conditions covered in Scotland and integrating pharmacies into GP Connect for joined-up care.
Sadik Al-Hassan
Con
North Somerset
Stresses the importance of pharmacies in providing vaccinations and consultations, noting a £2 billion annual funding gap and a 15% contraction of the pharmacy network since 2017. Urges the Government to provide a six-year funding settlement of £600 million to support pharmacies and integrate primary care better.
Shockat Adam
Con
Newham
Agrees with the need for expanded services for pharmacies but emphasizes the need for adequate remuneration to ensure pharmacists are fairly compensated for their increased workload. Shockat Adam highlighted that pharmacists are under immense pressure due to a 2.3% increase in NHS reimbursed items, a 17% increase in service volumes, a 3% increase in inflation, and rising operating costs such as national insurance and business rates. Independent prescribing is a generational opportunity for Pharmacy First, which would unlock the potential of pharmacies and help patients, but it requires both a vision and adequate funding.
Government Response
Diana R. Johnson
Government Response
As ever, it is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Betts. I congratulate the hon. Member for Leicester East (Shivani Raja) on securing this important debate and on her opening statement, which set out thoroughly the current situation of pharmacies and the challenges that they face. We all agree that community pharmacies are at the heart of the NHS and of their local communities. We recognise the important role that pharmacies play in delivering health services in neighbourhoods across the country, and the opportunity for that role to keep growing. We have delivered successive uplifts to pharmacy funding, following years of cuts or flat funding, and have invested in pharmacies to roll out NHS prescribing and to improve patient access to care in their communities. We have given the sector a record 19% funding uplift last year, and a further significant uplift of 10% for 2026-27, worth an additional £340 million. This funding will support the national roll-out of NHS pharmacist prescribing, enabling pharmacists to prescribe within the existing Pharmacy First and contraception service pathways, and for up to five new pathways. This will deliver increased access to NHS care, relieve pressures on other parts of the NHS, and strengthen support in communities across England. We are committed to making better use of pharmacists' clinical skills, reducing unnecessary administrative burdens, and enabling pharmacists to deliver more care closer to people's homes. We are delivering this through the three shifts set out in our 10-year health plan: sickness to prevention, analogue to digital, and hospital to community. We have been struck by the vital role community pharmacists play in bringing vaccination services closer to the communities they serve. During the 2025-26 flu programme, community pharmacists vaccinated approximately 4.7 million people, around 600,000 more than in the previous year. We have introduced a new prescription tracking service on the NHS app across nearly 1,500 community pharmacies in England, and we will go further by strengthening the digital links between pharmacies and general practice as we build neighbourhood health teams in every community. We are also enabling pharmacy technicians to take greater responsibility within dispensing processes, including allowing checked and bagged medicines to be handed out when the pharmacist is not present. Community pharmacists are a vital part of the NHS and of the communities they serve, and our investment, reforms and 10-year health plan all point in the same direction—a stronger, sustainable community pharmacy sector. This Government are committed to working with the sector to deliver that vision.
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About Westminster Hall Debates
Westminster Hall debates are a chance for MPs to raise important issues affecting their constituents and get a response from a government minister. Unlike Prime Minister's Questions, these debates are more in-depth and collaborative. The MP who secured the debate speaks first, other MPs can contribute, and a minister responds with the government's position.