Pharmacy Business Conference 2025: Pharmacy leaders urge sector to embrace innovation as funding gap

On Sunday April 6th over 200 owners of community pharmacies and other related partners gathered to hear and share their current mood, experiences and plans. Some were already embracing disruptive innovation to drive their business forward, others wanted to learn how they must adapt and adopt new ways of working knowing that doing nothing is not an option.
The conference heard from Shailesh Solanki, Executive Editor at Pharmacy Business, that whilst the recently announced contractual settlement was welcomed, it will not be enough to fill the gap to sustain the sector as is reflected in the drop in contractor numbers below 10,000.

Reena Barai, conference chair, set the scene with a personal story about the challenges she faces running her own pharmacy, one which resonated with delegates who were asked to share their current mood through a word cloud. This clearly expressed their concerns about their current situation and future.
The secretary of state for health, Wes Streeting, had recorded an exclusive video for the conference in which he set out the government’s position on how they value the role of community pharmacy within the NHS. This is “a reset of our relationship” and “how can pharmacy support the ambition to move from treatment to prevention and hospital to community”. Whilst constricted by current funding limitations, he sees the settlement for 2025/26 as a first step towards achieving a sustainable sector.