Community Pharmacy Workforce Survey

Benefits of the survey

• The 2023 survey maintains a consistent approach to the 2022 and previous surveys, focusing on the number of staff, the number of full-time equivalents (FTE) and any vacancies in each of ten staff categories employed in community pharmacy.
• The insight provided by the 2022 survey is helping NHS England, employers and stakeholders to inform future investment in education and training, and effective workforce planning, across all sectors of pharmacy. This includes ongoing investment in pre-registration trainee pharmacy technicians (PTPT) in community pharmacy as part of the England-wide PTPT Workforce Expansion Programme, preparing community pharmacists to undertake independent prescribing, and upskilling pharmacy technicians to support clinical service expansion.
• The 2022 survey data set helps to raise the visibility of community pharmacy as a vital part of integrated care systems and supports ongoing commitment to develop the whole pharmacy workforce.

Background

Health Education England, working with NHS England, commissioned the first Community Pharmacy Workforce Survey across England in 2017. From 2021 this survey has been repeated annually to help understand the size and make-up of the community pharmacy workforce and to support NHS England Workforce Training and Education directorate (formerly Health Education England) and partners to inform future planning and investment decisions.

The focus is on the number of staff (head count), the number of full-time equivalents (FTE) and vacancies in each of ten staff categories employed in community pharmacy.

The previous surveys demonstrated the value of obtaining a meaningful dataset, to inform future planning and system investment decisions in relation to the community pharmacy workforce across the NHS in England.

From 1^st October 2022, new regulations laid out by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) required pharmacy contractors to complete an annual workforce survey.

This requirement recognises the priority the NHS places on the community pharmacy workforce, and the importance of collecting consistent, accurate data to support effective workforce planning.

The 2022 survey was the first annual repeat of the data collection.

View the regulations which have been laid in Parliament

Read more about the terms of service changes on the Community Pharmacy England website

Frequently Asked Questions 

Find out more about the Community Pharmacy Workforce Survey 2023 in our Frequently Asked Questions.

Find out more about previous surveys in the related documents below.