Community Pharmacy England Update

Community pharmacy owners are being asked to share their views on the coming winter and beyond, ahead of the next full Community Pharmacy England Committee meeting which will be held in November.

This committee meeting comes at a critical time as the unsustainable pressures on community pharmacies continue through the autumn period, and the Committee of pharmacy owners will remain focused on improving the outlook for the sector.

The Committee will reconvene to review progress on negotiations and other important topics, looking particularly at potential developments for the 2024/25 CPCF and the future strategy for Community Pharmacy England. This work is being shaped by the recently published Vision for Community Pharmacy.

Pharmacy owners can directly input into the Committee’s discussions via a short poll:

• https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/D55F2KJ (for independents and non-CCA multiples only)

CPE are also sending the survey directly to the head offices of CCA multiples over the next week so this does not require action at pharmacy level for those pharmacies.

As well as being discussed at the November Committee Meeting, the results of these polls and the outcomes of the meeting will be reported back to the sector afterwards. Beyond this, your answers will be used to feed into ongoing work to press for an uplift to core funding by enhancing the evidence base of what pharmacy owners are experiencing. This and future surveys will also increase the amount of data CPE have for use in campaigning and influencing work.

Seeking your input more often is part of  wider changes in how CPE works and influences on your behalf. This new approach to engagement aims to help to build stronger relationships with pharmacy owners by improving how CPE engage with the sector and listening to pharmacy’s views better.

Survey for November’s Meeting

The topical polling consists of mostly multiple-choice questions, and should take just 10 or so minutes to complete.

For the next CPE meeting, they are keen to hear your views on the recently published Vision for Community Pharmacy and how prepared you and your team feel for the coming winter. They are also continuing to track the financial pressures on pharmacies.

Please complete the survey for November here:

• https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/D55F2KJ

(for independents and non-CCA multiples only as we are sending the survey directly to CCA multiples head offices)

Note, this survey is for community pharmacy owners only. The survey will close at 11.59pm on Monday 6th November to allow time for the Committee to review all the feedback ahead of their meeting.