The current community pharmacy contractual framework and system of payments dates from 2005/06, with remuneration under those arrangements set out in the table below:

The budget figures in the table only cover essential and advanced services, as commissioned centrally under the community pharmacy contractual framework. Community pharmacies are also commissioned locally to provide services, originally by primary care trusts and more recently by NHS England, clinical commissioning groups and local authorities. Information on the level of funding received by community pharmacies for those locally commissioned services is not held centrally.

As set out in the NHS Shared Planning Guidance, published in December 2015, the success of Sustainability and Transformation Plans (STPs) will depend on having an open, engaging, and iterative process that involves patients, carers, citizens, clinicians, local community partners including the independent and voluntary sectors, and local government through health and wellbeing boards.

NHS England expects local engagement as part of the STP process, building where appropriate on existing engagement through health and wellbeing boards and other local arrangements. In September 2016 it issued guidance “engaging local people” to support STPs to do this, which can be found here:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/engag-local-people-stps.pdf

Where plans propose service changes, formal consultation will commence shortly in line with good practice and legislative requirements.

Data are collected on the total delayed days during each month for all patients delayed throughout the month. The total number of delayed days in each year between 2011/12 (the first full year for which data are available) and 2015/16, for Barnsley, South Yorkshire and England are shown in the table below. As health is a devolved issue, the number of delayed days in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are not collected by NHS England.

Total number of delayed days in Barnsley, South Yorkshire and England

Source: NHS England, Delayed Transfers of Care Data

Notes:

¹South Yorkshire includes Barnsley, Sheffield, Rotherham and Doncaster Local Authorities.

Sustainability and Transformation Plans are locally developed plans, and it is expected that individual areas will take account of local circumstances including any workforce shortages.

All 44 Sustainability and Transformation Plans (STPs) have now been published, and areas are working to engage local people as they turn their proposals into plans.

National Health Service organisations have also submitted their operational plans for 2017-19.

The additional £325 million announced in the budget will help STPs with the strongest projects make progress in improving care for local communities.

Since 9 September 2016, when a revised package of measures was put to the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiation Committee (PSNC), the Department, supported by NHS England, has met the PSNC on four occasions. I have met PSNC three times since 30 August 2016, including on 6 October 2016.

Ministers are still in a process of considering a proposed package for the community pharmacy sector and are expecting to make an announcement shortly.

The Government’s proposals for community pharmacy in 2016/17 and beyond, on which we have consulted, are being considered against the public sector equality duty, the family test and the relevant duties of my Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health under the National Health Service Act 2006.

Our assessments include impacts on other NHS services. An impact assessment will be completed to inform final decisions and published in due course.

Our proposals are about improving services for patients and the public and securing efficiencies and savings. We believe these efficiencies can be made within community pharmacy without compromising the quality of services or public access to them.

Our aim is to ensure that those community pharmacies upon which people depend continue to thrive. We are consulting on the introduction of a Pharmacy Access Scheme, which will provide more NHS funds to certain pharmacies compared with others, considering factors such as location and the health needs of the local population.

No publication date has yet been finalised. The Department remains committed to publishing the full and final impact assessment alongside any Drug Tariff determination.

Officials have been undertaking impact analyses to inform the final impact assessment both prior to, and during, the consultation period which ran from 17 December 2015 to 24 May 2016. The Department remains committed to publishing the full and final impact assessment alongside any Drug Tariff determination.