Mr Patsy McGlone (Mid Ulster): To ask the Minister of Health, pursuant to AQW 13519/22-27, (i) for his assessment of the accuracy of the 2018-19 year-start investment total for community pharmacy services being £104 million in 2018/19, given that his Department’s cost findings quantified the cost of community pharmacy services to be at least £130 million in 2011-12; and (ii) to detail the funding (a) sought; and (b) secured in the June monitoring round for existing service pressures in community pharmacy.
Minister of Health: (i) I can confirm the accuracy of the 2018-19 opening budget allocation for Community Pharmacy Services (CPS) which was £104m. This figure was part of a two-year deal agreed in 2018 which was based on a core financial envelope of £104m per annum for the delivery of CPS, plus additional funding for trialling and testing new services. The closing position resulted in total funding of circa. £116m and £113m in 2018/19 and 2019/20 respectively.
The figure of £130m relates to a “cost of services” investigation (CoSI) of community pharmacy services relating to the period 2011/12 which was undertaken by PricewaterhouseCoopers.
At the time the Department made it clear that the CoSI report would help to inform the levels of funding for community pharmacy services alongside other sources of information, including an ongoing Margins Survey. It was not intended that the CoSI report would set the level of funding required to fund community pharmacy.
(ii) It was not possible to bid for any further funding for community pharmacy in the June monitoring round. The Department of Health’s budget allocation for 2024-25 represented a 2.3% reduction in funding compared to 2023-24. The bid made by the Department at June monitoring round was to address the funding gap and focus on sustaining existing services at current funding levels.
You will wish to note that community pharmacy already received a funding uplift by the previous Minister. The 2024/25 opening position of £147m was increased by £19m from the opening position of the previous year.
ENDS
Your MLA 