This policy brief presents insights from the third roundtable in GPN’s UK medicines policy series, held on 8 September 2025 and chaired by Stephen Riley, North-West Deputy Regional Chief Pharmacist at NHS England. Titled “Making the Most of the Pharmacy Workforce,” the roundtable explored how the UK can better utilise community pharmacists as the NHS evolves over the next decade.

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Participants including healthcare leaders and system representatives discussed challenges and opportunities for optimising the pharmacy workforce. Key issues included technology, funding, regulation, education, workforce integration, and leadership, with underfunding highlighted as a major barrier. Community pharmacy, often described as having the worst deal in the NHS, remains the most visible and accessible provider, but legislative, regulatory, and resource constraints limit its potential.

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The discussion is reinforced by evidence from NHS England’s Independent Prescribing Pathfinder Programme, which points to similar enablers and constraints around funding stability, digital integration, workforce capacity, and governance. The brief identifies practical system-level actions to overcome these barriers, translating national policy ambitions into actionable steps to maximise the impact of the UK pharmacy workforce.