Pharmacy is first on the Government’s primary care reform agenda, health secretary Sajid Javid has said. 

Speaking at today’s NHS Confed Expo in Liverpool, Mr Javid said primary care is in need of reform. He said he would be “starting with pharmacy” and setting out his plans for the sector “shortly”.  

He commented: “I don’t think our current model of primary care is working.

“I know. You know. Patients know. And everyone working in primary care knows: we need a plan for change.”

Commenting on Dr Claire Fuller’s recent ‘stocktake’ report on patient access to primary care, he said her recommendations “will improve access, including for those with the most complex needs” and help tackle the health service’s Covid backlog. 

In a wide ranging speech, the health secretary set out his intention to curb rising NHS spending by focusing on areas like disease prevention, commenting: “I don’t want anyone’s children to grow up in a country where more than half of our national budget is taken up by healthcare, at the expense of everything from housing to education.”

He said that later this year the Department of Health and Social Care will release a number of publications, including its digital health and care plan, a health disparities white paper and the first ever NHS 15-year workforce strategy.