The government’s 10-Year Health Plan for England provides the opportunity to put pharmacy on a resilient and sustainable footing for the future, and to enable pharmacy teams to fulfil wider clinical roles within their capability, says the General Pharmaceutical Council.

“The benefits to patient care and wellbeing from doing this will be significant,” says the regulator in its response to the government’s NHS Change conversation, which will help shape the 10-Year Health Plan.

However, it cautions that the pharmacy sector faces challenges that impact its short- and long-term sustainability. “From workforce planning to commercial viability, integration with and access to the wider healthcare system, and the impact of medicines shortages: these challenges, if left unaddressed, will put the government’s plans at risk,” it warns.

Equipping pharmacies to respond to a shift in care from hospitals to communities will be a vital part of the success of the government’s approach to healthcare, says the GPhC. Independent prescribing by all newly registered pharmacists could be an important enabler, but delivering on this potential means responding to the challenges of short- and long-term sustainability in community pharmacy, it says.

Another challenge to moving care into communities is access to data across joined up digital platforms. “Digital integration and interoperability across healthcare is not currently where it needs to be, and can be an obstacle to safe, effective and person-centred care,” says the GPhC.

Digital skills and access to reliable digital services varies across Great Britain, it notes. Development of new clinical uses of technology requires funding, and translating that research into safe, effective and affordable pharmacy services takes time.

Work pressures on community pharmacy teams is a challenge when it comes to spotting illness early and tacking the causes of ill health, says the GPhC. The growing reliance on locums within community pharmacy , which dilutes the longer-term relationship a pharmacist can develop with individual patients is a further challenge.

There is also evidence that more needs to be done to raise awareness of the services, especially clinical services, that a community pharmacy can provide, the regulator concludes.