Mr Patsy McGlone (Mid Ulster): To ask the Minister of Health, pursuant to AQW 13519/22-27, to detail any additional financial support he will provide to implement the Strategic Plan for Community Pharmacy.
Minister of Health: The Community Pharmacy Strategic Plan brings together four existing inter-related programmes of work led by the Department, to support the delivery of six strategic priorities up to 2030. Those four work programmes relate to: Service Development; Legislative Reform; Workforce; and e-Pharmacy.
Some aspects of these programmes are in train and funded, including several initiatives to support workforce development. Also, in April community pharmacy received an increase of £19m to its opening funding position for 2024/25, bringing it to £147m, which represents an increase of 14.8% from the previous year. However, full delivery of the strategic plan is subject to securing additional funding over the next six years, and implementation will be phased.
The Department of Health’s budget allocation for 2024-25 represents a 2.3% reduction in funding compared to our expenditure in 2023-24. The 2024-25 opening Budget allocation has left a funding gap of circa £340m and even after June Monitoring there is insufficient funding available to meet our needs. Due to this position, we are not able to request additional funding for any new work areas – the focus in 2024/25 is on sustaining existing services at current funding levels.
ENDS
Your MLA 