A majority of Local Pharmaceutical Committee representatives have said that workforce is the biggest challenge facing contractors at present.

At the November meeting of LPCs and the PSNC, delegates were asked to rate the most pressing issues for the sector, with 64 per cent citing recruitment and retention issues as the top challenge, compared with 17 per cent opting for financial difficulties, 14 per cent picking capacity and five per cent saying low morale was the biggest challenge.

Delegates suggested measures to alleviate workforce strain such as reducing the migration of community pharmacists to primary care networks, improving training and development opportunities and “rebranding the profession” to make community pharmacy more attractive to young graduates, the PSNC reported.

Asked about the development of integrated care systems, a “majority” said they were “positive about their LPC’s engagement with local ICS” and eight in 10 said that in future the LPC network should be ‘mapped’ onto ICSs “given their growing importance in the healthcare landscape,” said the PSNC.

The negotiator said it would use these responses from delegates “to prioritise its workstreams for the coming months”.