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The National Pharmacy Association (NPA) has today pleaded with prime minister Andy Burnham to support under-pressure community pharmacies, starting with a “reform” of business rates.

In a letter to Burnham, the NPA said giving pharmacies help with rates and “similar relief…as that enjoyed by other parts of the NHS” should be his immediate focus.

Earlier this month, Burnham indicated to Independent Community Pharmacist that he would support pharmacies with a business rates exemption or discount and funded tax cuts to help them cope with staff wage increases if he became prime minister.

The NPA said Labour under Sir Keir Starmer had started “addressing a decade of neglect” in community pharmacy, having increased its global sum by £340 million for 2026-27, but told Burnham, who announced Yvette Cooper as health secretary in his cabinet reshuffle, that “more is needed”.

“The existing and embedded community pharmacy network should be central to the government’s ambitions to move care out of hospitals and into communities, improve prevention and reduce pressure elsewhere in the NHS,” the NPA said.

“Pharmacies are ready and willing to deliver more for patients and the NHS. Pharmacists are highly trained clinical healthcare professionals and increasing numbers are becoming independent prescribers, which provides a great opportunity for the government to significantly enhance patient access to care.”

Severe operating cost pressures

However, the NPA warned Burnham that “sustained financial pressure continues to mean neighbourhoods are still losing their local pharmacy”.

“Community pharmacies continue to face severe operating cost pressures, including staffing, energy, transport and premises costs,” it said. “We urge the government to consider further targeted support for our members.”

In its letter, the NPA referenced a number of services pharmacies provide to communities, such as Pharmacy First, the New Medicines Service, contraception and vaccination services, including the national meningitis B programme which started on Monday.

The NPA said pharmacies have “the potential to do even more” but insisted greater investment in community pharmacy was needed.

“New responsibilities must be supported by sustainable funding and long-term investment,” it said, telling Burnham his record as mayor of Greater Manchester showed “the value of bringing health services closer to the people and communities they serve and treating the person holistically”.

The NPA said his Live Well programme in Greater Manchester demonstrated that “healthcare works best when it is preventative, embedded in the community and locally delivered to best serve the local population”.

The initiative brought together public services, local authorities, communities, faith groups and the health, business, voluntary and social enterprise sectors to reduce health, social and economic inequalities in neighbourhoods. It was supported by the National Lottery Community Fund.

Insisting Burnham’s “commitment to devolution” was “an opportunity to ensure local health services better reflect the needs of their communities”, the NPA said: “Community pharmacies can contribute hugely to local health planning and can offer so much value in the development of neighbourhood health services.

“Community pharmacy services commissioned nationally ensure a clear and equitable offer across England, and local systems need to be better empowered and supported to build additional services tailored to their populations' particular needs.

“A strong national framework, combined with meaningful local partnership, integration and financial flows, would enable community pharmacy to contribute fully to both national NHS priorities and local approaches to care.”

Image: www.parliament.uk