We have really good staff numbers (which is killing us financially), great support and a nurturing environment, but that’s not enough.   

There is a whole sub-group of pharmacists who don’t want to work weekends, can’t really be bothered to provide services and don’t appreciate – yet – that the grass is not necessarily any greener on the other side. 

I can see these pharmacists eventually being sidelined within the larger GP practice teams, with the volume of their output questioned. Not straightaway, as ARRS is funding these placements, but sooner or later practices will be asked to put their hands into their own pockets – and then we’ll find out what they really value.

100-hour catastrophe

Elsewhere, the reduction in minimum opening hours for 100-hour pharmacies is a huge blow to contractors running 40-hour contracts who have been given no regulatory easements to make the current chickenfeed contract more workable. Alongside this, the National Living Wage has increased again, interest rates will certainly rise again, and energy costs remain a concern. It’s so, so tough. And with 100-hour contracts now 72-hour contracts, which will shave around four hours off their working day – a huge boon to supermarket pharmacies who overwhelmingly operate a 100-hour model – the financial savings could be around £60,000 each for these pharmacies if they currently operate, as many do, using locums. 

A precedent has also been set so that any time NHSE is feeling the pressure on pharmacy closures, they can reduce the opening hours of these (former) 100-hour contracts. They might lose a little out-of-hours cover, but this is better than commissioning extra provision from existing contractors, who not only have zero goodwill towards the NHS, but are struggling under the vacuum created by the ARRS scheme. 

So, notwithstanding the £645m announcement, how do I feel? Back-to-back bank holidays certainly don’t help, but I feel like toast. Smoking, black bits of toast. There is nothing left to give. 

What do you think about the £645m investment announced by the Government? Email pm@1530.com 

*Alexander Humphries is the pen name of a practising community pharmacist. The views in this article are not necessarily those of Pharmacy Magazine.