Please see below for the APTUK statement regarding the agreement.
22 September 2022
Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework five-year deal: Year 4 (2022 to 2023) and Year 5 (2023 to 2024)
An agreement has been reached for both year 4 and year 5 of the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF) 2019 to 2024 5-year deal between the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC), the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and NHS England (NHSE).
The agreement which has been announced by the DHSC sets out how services, advice, and support on offer to patients and local communities from community pharmacy will continue to expand and make the most of the clinical skills of pharmacy teams.
The two-year agreement provides certainty to pharmacy contractors over the next two years, and facilitates capacity in the PSNC, DHSC and NHSE to begin the important work to consider the future.
In response to this announcement APTUK have made the following statement:
Pharmacy technicians are an integral part of the community pharmacy team and ideally placed to be able to support the delivery and expansion of healthcare provision for the public.
We are pleased to see recognition of the valuable contribution pharmacy technicians make in community pharmacy and confirmation the VAT issue has been resolved to fully enable pharmacy technicians to deliver the blood pressure check service and smoking cessation service. Pharmacy technicians are already delivering these services in some areas and we view this contractual framework as an enabler for a pharmacy technician’s knowledge and skills to be utilised fully by community pharmacies employing pharmacy technicians. We also welcome the confirmation there will be no change to the current fee levels for provision of these services by pharmacy technicians and look forward to hearing proposals for pharmacy technicians to deliver other healthcare services.
We note the DHSC intent to undertake public consultations on legislative change to add pharmacy technicians to the list of healthcare professionals able to operate under a Patient Group Direction and to enable the skill mix of community pharmacy teams to be used effectively. APTUK has long campaigned for such changes and we will fully support the consultation processes accordingly.
Claire Steele
On behalf of the APTUK Executive Committe