Sustainable medicines supply: position statement March 2026

The Welsh Pharmaceutical Committee considers further development of the clinical role of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians in the community pharmacy sector is dependent on ensuring the community pharmacy network remains the primary route by which medicines are supplied in primary care in Wales. 

The committee believes ensuring the long-term sustainability of arrangements for medicines supply by community pharmacies should be a priority for the Welsh Government because it is highly valued by patients, delivers significant financial benefits for the NHS and taxpayers, and given the frequency of contact between patients and pharmacies, presents an unrivalled opportunity to promote the safe and effective use of medicines by patients and the public in Wales.

The community pharmacy sector in Wales is in a period of significant reform. Since the publication of Pharmacy: Delivering a Healthier Wales in 2019, the role community pharmacies play in delivering NHS services has greatly expanded most notably through the increasing availability of additional clinical services which promote access to high quality NHS care closer to people’s homes.

Underpinned by the wide-ranging NHS contractual reforms described in Presgripsiwn Newydd: A New Prescription, community pharmacies now deliver well over half a million clinical service consultations every year reducing demand for other NHS services, including general practice and hospital emergency departments.  Many of these services including the national clinical community pharmacy service, the NHS flu vaccination service and pharmacist independent prescribing services, build on community pharmacies core ‘medicines supply’ role by enabling pharmacists and pharmacy technicians to assess, advise and provide treatment without the need to involve other healthcare professionals.

Alongside the expansion of clinical services, community pharmacies in Wales dispensed more than 80 million prescriptions in the last year and evidence from other parts of the UK suggests having a prescription dispensed remains the most common reason people visit their community pharmacy. The National Audit Office in England has previously found the arrangements for reimbursing pharmacies for dispensing medicines for the NHS has resulted in lower medicine prices for the NHS.

Aligned to the Committee’s vision set out in Pharmacy: Delivering a Healthier Wales, access to pre-existing and new clinical services from community pharmacies has expanded and become more consistent.  However there has been a 3.6% reduction in the overall number of community pharmacies in Wales in the last ten years. Between 2022 and 2024 there was an increasing trend in the number of medicine supply issues in the UK and whilst this trend has been reversed somewhat more recently, high profile medicines shortages persist.

These factors give rise to concern that whilst access to pharmaceutical care for many has improved, access to traditional services and security of supply of medicines from community pharmacies, may have diminished for others.

Changes to initial and post-registration education and training backed by changes to legislation and contractual reforms are enabling pharmacists and pharmacy technicians to expand their contribution to patient care through expanded roles. As a result, patients and the public in Wales are benefitting from access to care closer to home provided from community pharmacies as the most accessible and frequently used point of access to NHS services. Typically, these expanded roles have developed to build upon community pharmacies’ traditional role of providing reliable, resilient and safe supply of medicines.

The committee believe community pharmacies’ role in supplying medicines is highly valued by patients and their carers uniquely sets them apart from other providers in primary care and should provide the foundation for delivering the aspirations described in Pharmacy: Delivering a Healthier Wales. 

The committee believes optimising the contribution of the sector to improving health and wellbeing should be built on primarily the recognition of the importance of the long-term sustainable arrangements for the supply of medicines from community pharmacies.