The NHS is “making the case for an increase in training places for pharmacists,” England’s chief pharmaceutical officer David Webb has said.

Speaking at the Clinical Pharmacy Congress on Friday May 12, Mr Webb outlined NHS England’s “ambitious program of pharmacy workforce transformation,” including the recently announced Pharmacy First service, the growth of the independent prescribing agenda and workstreams focusing on medicines optimisation.

He said that in the long term these changes will “improve career progression and opportunities and benefit patients and communities,” but recognised that it “is very tough for all teams at the moment” and that the program will “take some time” to bed in fully. 

Mr Webb said NHSE is “making the case for an increase in training places for pharmacists and [awaits] the long term workforce strategy,” which is expected to be published shortly.  

Announcing the Primary Care Recovery plan last week, health secretary Steve Barclay said the Government is “making huge investments in our primary care workforce” to meet a target of 26,000 more trained staff by March 2024, “meaning we have more pharmacists physios and paramedics… than ever before”.

In his speech on Friday Mr Webb said he was “very proud” of the Pharmacy First service, which will allow pharmacists to write prescriptions for seven common conditions and that due to “substantial developments led by my team over the last few years,” pharmacists and pharmacy technicians are playing “an increasingly important role”.

He said that while some details around the Pharmacy First service remain to be negotiated, it is “likely” that it will “become part of the Community Pharmacist Consultation Service” and will be available to those pharmacies who have signed up to deliver the CPCS – around 95 per cent of the sector.

Asked by an audience member whether community pharmacies will be able to deliver Pharmacy First given reports of severe capacity constraints across the sector, Mr Webb said he recognised “how challenging the environment is for people and… how hard people are working,” but added that he “takes a very positive view” of the potential for the newly investment of an additional £645m over two years to support staff and benefit patients.