NHS England (NHSE) commissions pharmaceutical services from the community pharmacy sector in England, to dispense medicines, and to provide wider clinical services to NHS patients. 

Background

In October 2022, as a part of the final negotiated community pharmacy Contractual Framework deal, NHS England, Department of Health and Social Care and Community Pharmacy England agreed for NHS England to commission an independent economic analysis of NHS pharmaceutical services, using data provided by contractors, Frontier Economics and IQVIA were commissioned to undertake this review, which has now been completed.

Scope

The project used available evidence to answer, as accurately as possible with that evidence and within the agreed approach, three questions:

• What are the full economic costs of delivering NHS pharmaceutical services, and how do these costs vary across and within: different types of pharmacy; different mix of dispensing activity and services; and different locations?
• Are NHS community pharmacy businesses sustainable under the current funding model, including the current trajectory of the sector? To what extent are NHS services at risk of interruption?
• Which clinical services can be most efficiently delivered from community pharmacy as compared with general practice or the wider NHS?

The project used data provided by contractors across the sector. Work was undertaken between April 2024 and March 2025.  

Throughout the process feedback was sought from stakeholders based on the agreed consultation process. 

Click here to read the full report: Economic Analysis of NHS Pharmaceutical Services in England 

Click here to read the Annexes: Economic Analysis of NHS Pharmaceutical Services in England 

For more information, please contact media@frontier-economics.com or call +44 (0) 20 7031 7000.