The calling of a swift general election in July 2024 caught many by surprise and, frustratingly for the sector, this sidelined any potential announcement of a new funding deal as this fell foul of the pre-election sensitivity period. Following Labour’s landslide election victory, the Party appointed Stephen Kinnock as its new Pharmacy Minister, along with a host of other appointments across healthcare. Also of note, Pharmacists Sadik Al-Hassan and Taiwo Owatemi now sit as parliamentary MPs, which, one would hope, will provide better insight into the sector’s challenges and drive the necessary changes from the inside. Whilst any funding announcement was delayed in 2024, it is hoped that more positive news will be received in early 2025. 

A minor boost was also received by the sector with the introduction of the Pharmacy First service in England, which has already been operating successfully in both Scotland and Wales (CAS) for a couple of years now. The implementation wasn’t without its challenges, however, with some minor adjustments to activity thresholds in October last year, it is hoped that the delivery of the service will continue to improve to the benefit of patients, and importantly provide much-needed additional income to contractors.

​Throughout 2024, transactional activity was buoyant despite ongoing operational challenges. In the 12 months to November 2024, we completed 222 pharmacy sales, more than double the amount for the preceding year. 36% of these were corporate disposals which we expect to subside in 2025 and be replaced with an increasing volume of independent sales.