Community Pharmacy Workforce Survey

New from October 2022

New regulations laid out by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) require pharmacy contractors to complete an annual workforce survey from 1st October 2022.  

Previous national surveys in 2017 and 2021 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.  

This new 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 new regulations will enable the provision of comprehensive data sets, which will help to raise the visibility of community pharmacy as a vital part of integrated care systems. These data sets will inform HEE's work to develop the pharmacy workforce across all sectors of pharmacy both nationally and in integrated care boards. 

View the regulations which have been laid in Parliament 

Read more about the terms of service changes on the PSNC website 

Benefits of the survey

The 2021 survey report and data set provided an insight of the community pharmacy workforce in spring 2021 and has already helped us and partners to inform future planning and investment decisions, including investment in pre-registration trainee pharmacy technicians (PTPT) in community pharmacy as part of the England-wide PTPT Workforce Expansion Programme.

The 2022 survey will maintain a consistent approach to the information included. The focus will be 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.

This emerging data set helps to raise the visibility of community pharmacy as a vital part of integrated care systems. It will also support our work to develop the whole pharmacy workforce.

The 2022 survey will be the first annual repeat of the data collection, an important step in offering commissioners timely detail on the workforce. For further information please see the CPWS22 Launch Letter.

Background

In 2017, we commissioned the first Community Pharmacy Workforce Survey across England to better understand the numbers and skills mix in the community pharmacy workforce and to inform planning and future investment in education, as part of building a contemporary dataset. A similar survey took place in 2021. The Community Pharmacy Workforce Survey will now be repeated on an annual basis.  

• Access the 2017 survey report and dataset.
• Access the 2021 survey report and data set 

Frequently Asked Questions 

Find out more about the Community Pharmacy Workforce Survey 2022 in our Frequently Asked Questions.