Category: News

Community pharmacies across Northern Ireland can now sign up to the Daffodil Standards for palliative and end of life care. The Daffodil Standards are a joint initiative between the Royal Pharmaceutical Society and Marie Curie that aim to build on the high standard of care already provided to palliative care patients and their families by community pharmacy teams.

The Standards were launched at Parliament Buildings on Monday 31st March 2025 and are supported by Department of Health NI, Pharmacy Forum, and Community Pharmacy NI, and are led by the regional lead pharmacist for palliative and end of life care. Community pharmacists can sign up to the Daffodil Standards through the Marie Curie website and they are encouraged to use the Standards to build the confidence of pharmacy team members when providing support to palliative care patients.

Once a pharmacy signs up to the Daffodil Standards, a welcome pack containing all necessary resources will be sent out to pharmacy teams. Community pharmacies across Northern Ireland provide support to palliative care patients daily, and the Standards will support pharmacy teams to offer the best end of life care for their patients and their families.

Katherine Kidd Head of Professional Services and Funding at Community Pharmacy NI commented:
“The launch of the Daffodil Standards to support community pharmacies in providing end of life care to patients is welcomed. Pharmacy teams across Northern Ireland can use the Standards at their own pace to help them gradually build on the high standards of care that is already provided to palliative patients, carers, and family members.”

Kevin McDevitt Palliative Care Network Pharmacists added:
“Community pharmacists and their teams across Northern Ireland already provide a high level of care and support to patients and families through a difficult and challenging time. In adopting the Daffodil Standards, there is an opportunity to reflect on the different ways this engagement happens, and how this can be built upon to enable pharmacy teams to further support their patients. I can see the confidence in my team grow through participating in the Standards and I would wholeheartedly encourage community pharmacists to find out more about how their pharmacy could get involved.”

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Peter Armstrong, Regional Lead Pharmacist for Palliative Care said: “We know the huge contribution community pharmacists make towards good end of life care in their local communities, frequently going the extra mile to ensure the very best care for their patients. Implementation of the Daffodil Standards for Palliative Care provides a framework to enable the whole pharmacy team to build on their skills, develop their confidence, elevate their commitment to palliative care and reinforce their key role in supporting patients with a terminal illness and their families.”

Chris Black, Specialist Palliative Care Pharmacist Marie Curie and Belfast Trust concluded that: “Community pharmacies are the most accessible healthcare providers and are ideally placed to support patients and the families of those diagnosed with a terminal illness. The Daffodil Standards build on the amazing work that community pharmacies already provide, creating a clear, structured approach to palliative and end of life care for the whole pharmacy team. The expertise of the community pharmacy team is then on hand to advise and reassure families when they really need support.”

The representative body for Community Pharmacy in Northern Ireland, CPNI, has told MLAs at Stormont that community pharmacy owners are caught in a difficult position. While community pharmacies are playing an increased role in relieving health service pressures, CPNI has warned the politicians that a deepening financial crisis is threatening the existence of many local community pharmacies and undermining the role they could play.

Speaking to an all-party group of elected members at the Northern Ireland Assembly, pharmacy leaders have laid out the opportunity to ramp-up community-based healthcare through greater use of their clinical expertise; however, they say that a long-running funding shortfall is leaving pharmacy owners struggling to pay their medicine wholesalers and is leading to cuts in staffing and opening hours in an attempt to reduce spiralling overheads.

Representatives from CPNI were briefing politicians at Stormont on Tuesday 25 March on the Community Pharmacy Strategic Plan for 2030. They have worked closely with the Department of Health and SPPG officials to expand and enhance community-based clinical services such as vaccinations, advice and treatment of sore throat, shingles and urinary tract infections and provision of emergency contraception.

While outlining the many advantages of these clinical developments, CPNI has called for political support to bridge a deepening financial gap which threatens to undermine the existence of community pharmacy services.

One community pharmacy owner, Ian Gabbie, from Killyleagh, told the group of politicians that his family-run pharmacy is committed to increasing the role played by community pharmacy in reducing the pressure on GPs and hospital emergency departments.

Mr Gabbie is a passionate community pharmacist, and both his son and daughter are now working alongside him as pharmacists. However, he said that they work extended hours in order to keep staffing costs to a minimum.

Mr Gabbie explained, “Our efforts in Killyleagh are helping to improve health outcomes and reduce pressure on other critical parts of the health service. Regrettably, this is not sustainable with the current funding model. Every month is a financial juggling act to ensure I have the funds to pay my staff and drug wholesalers.

“We have made redundancies and recently reduced our opening times from a full day on a Saturday to just three hours, in an effort to protect our core Monday to Friday services.
“As a sector, a sense of pride in our community pharmacies drives us to prop up our businesses, with the hope that common sense funding will prevail.”

Gerard Greene, Chief Executive of Community Pharmacy NI said, “The benefits of increasing the clinical expertise of community pharmacists are undeniable: everyone, including the Health Minister has recognised the value and contribution of community pharmacy to health services.

“However, the fact remains that every single month, these individual pharmacy owners are struggling to work within the extremely stressful financial constraints of Department of Health funding model. They’re reducing opening hours, cutting staff and juggling payments to drug wholesalers in order to maintain a safe supply of vital medicines and other services.

“We have welcomed the opportunity to discuss this with politicians. We have sought their support in calling for the Minister to review the financial model, and to work with us to agree – together – a model which will stabilize the sector and allow it to fulfil its potential to transform healthcare in Northern Ireland.”

The body representing community pharmacists in Northern Ireland has told a Stormont committee that recurrent funding difficulties, coupled with the increase in National Insurance Contributions, will see more pharmacies close their doors. The sector has been grappling with a funding deficit of £20 million per year for more than a decade.

According to CPNI, many pharmacists have been defaulting on their wholesaler bills, a clear indicator of the severity of the financial strain being felt across the community pharmacy network.

In a recent survey carried out of community pharmacy contractors, an alarming 43% of respondents had been unable to pay their medicine bills on time over recent months.

The survey also revealed that in the past six months, a concerning 81% have said that they would not recommend the profession to others, a stark contrast to the vital role they play in providing healthcare services to communities across Northern Ireland.

CPNI told MLAs that these existing issues will be compounded by the rise in National Insurance Contributions and wage increases which will see a £12.4 million burden being added to the recurring £20 million deficit.

Turlough Hamill, Community Pharmacist, Hamills Pharmacy, Portadown said: “Community pharmacies are at a breaking point and the financial pressures passed an unsustainable level long ago. It is no exaggeration to say that without prompt intervention, the very future of community pharmacy services is at risk, leaving patients without essential access to medicines and advice.

“Many contractors have had to subsidise costs with personal savings or defer payments, resulting in medicines being withheld, as well as take out loans at high interest rates. Another community pharmacy closed at the end of February 2025 due to financial pressures and there have been 17 closures in the 2-year period to Dec’24 compared to 9 in the previous 8 years.

“Of course, we acknowledge the funding challenges within the health service, but it is important that we bring a sense of reality here today to the situation facing community pharmacy in Northern Ireland and by extension, primary care and the wider health service.
“We are calling on the Department of Health to address and resolve the fundamental funding model once and for all.”

Many pharmacists have told CPNI that relentless financial and operational pressures are negatively impacting their mental health, personal lives, and overall well-being. While they remain passionate about their profession, the current environment makes it an increasingly unsustainable career choice.
Community pharmacy representatives have now warned MLAs that without urgent action, the sector will face reduced services, limiting patient access to care, more pharmacy closures and cuts to opening hours and staff, negatively impacting local communities.
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Community pharmacies in Northern Ireland will face a £12.4m increase in costs due to National Insurance and Minimum Wage increases from 1 April 2025.The hike threatens the long-term sustainability of essential community healthcare services, adding a further significant cost burden to an already beleaguered network of community pharmacies across Northern Ireland.

The industry representative body, Community Pharmacy NI says the increased operational costs will impact on service provision and patient accessibility.Since the start of 2023, 17 community pharmacies in Northern Ireland have shut their doors amid an ongoing funding shortfall that the sector is struggling to overcome.

Against the backdrop of these closures, Health Minister Mike Nesbitt MLA recently told MLAs at the Assembly Health Committee that he does not foresee additional funding being allocated to cover the extra costs.

Community pharmacies are calling on officials to protect the community pharmacy network from these cost increases and are calling for a rebalancing of healthcare provision, one that emphasises community care, prioritises prevention over treatment, and supports people in managing their conditions at home.

Chief Executive of Community Pharmacy NI, Gerard Greene, said,“In the private sector, businesses can often offset such cost increases by raising the prices of their goods and services. Community pharmacies do not have this option. Unlike the health service, they are not shielded from these increases, which are mounting. Community pharmacies are already subsidising the health service, and this will make the situation worse.

“We have already seen 17 community pharmacies close in Northern Ireland since the beginning of 2023 due to the funding shortfall the sector is grappling with. These further pressures because of the NIC increases will certainly impact patients and lead to reduced services in many local areas at a time when we are supposed to support the development of community-based healthcare services and take pressure off secondary care. This runs contrary to the transformation objectives that the health service needs to take forward”.

Community pharmacies across Northern Ireland are providing advice and support to help people look after their mental health in a new campaign.

Running throughout February and March, the “Look after your mental health” campaign is part of the Living Well initiative, a partnership between the Public Health Agency (PHA), Community Pharmacy NI (CPNI) and the Department of Health (DoH), providing public health advice in over 500 pharmacies.

The campaign highlights the importance of small daily actions to benefit your mental health and wellbeing, being aware of any signs of problems, and using self-care techniques to manage your mental health.

Kathy Owens, Health and Social Wellbeing Improvement Manager at the PHA, said: “Common mental health problems such as anxiety, stress, low mood and depression can affect anyone. While these feelings can be a natural response to life’s challenges, they can become more serious if we don’t do something to help improve our mental health.

“The latest Living Well campaign highlights the importance of looking after our mental health and recognising the signs of poor mental health, and highlights actions we can take to improve our mental health and how to get help if needed.”

In Northern Ireland, at any given time, one in five adults will be experiencing mental ill-health. Mental health is shaped by the wide-ranging characteristics of the social, economic and physical environments in which people live. Looking after our mental health is not something we should just do when we are feeling down, it’s something we should proactively maintain just like our physical health.

Justin Crozier, Community Pharmacist at Toome Pharmacy in Co Antrim, said: “Pharmacists are well positioned in the community to offer advice and support about different health matters that may arise. We are usually seen as helping people deal with physical ailments, so it is important that through this Living Well campaign the public are aware that their mental health and wellbeing is just as important to us. I’d encourage anyone calling in to their local pharmacy to pick up a leaflet and ask staff a bit more about the initiative and where to seek further advice and support.”

Further information on how to improve your mental health and a list of services that can provide mental health support is also available at www.mindingyourhead.info

To learn more about the signs of poor mental health, what you can do to improve it and how to get help if you need it, pick up a free ‘Look after your mental health’ leaflet in your local participating community pharmacy. If you need help and support, speak to a member of the pharmacy team.

The campaign will also promote the ‘Take 5 steps to wellbeing’ as a guide to help people practise self-care.

The ‘Take 5 steps to wellbeing’ are: Connect, Keep Learning, Be Active, Take Notice and Give.

‘Take 5 steps to wellbeing’:

Connect – Connect with the people around you: family, friends, colleagues, neighbours, work, school or in your local community. Think of these relationships as the cornerstones of your life and spend time developing them. Building these connections will support and enrich you every day.

Keep learning

Don’t be afraid to try something new, rediscover an old hobby or sign up for a course. Take on a different responsibility, fix a bike, learn to play an instrument or how to cook your favourite food.

Set a challenge you will enjoy. Learning new things will make you more confident, as well as being fun to do.

Be active

Go for a walk or run, cycle, play a game, garden or dance. Exercising makes you feel good. Most importantly, discover a physical activity that you enjoy; one that suits your level of mobility and fitness.

Take notice

Stop, pause, or take a moment to look around you. What can you see, feel, smell or even taste? Look for beautiful, new, unusual or extraordinary things in your everyday life and think about how that makes you feel.

Give

Do something nice for a friend, colleague, or stranger, thank someone, smile, volunteer your time or consider joining a community group. Look out as well as in. Seeing yourself and your happiness linked to the wider community can be incredibly rewarding and will create connections with the people around you.

Kathy concluded: “Everyone can benefit from the ‘Take 5 steps to wellbeing’. If we can build these in to our daily routine, we will soon start to see the mental health benefits and improvements to our overall wellbeing. It will help us to engage our minds, be more active and connect with others. Take 5 will start to become part of our lives and, if you are already practising them, then encourage others to try them out and feel the benefits too.”

People can and do recover from mental health problems.

If you or someone you know is in distress or crisis, you can call Lifeline and speak to a trained counsellor 24/7. Call 0808 808 8000.

If you or someone else is in immediate danger of suicide or you require urgent medical attention, call 999.

Notes to editors

In Northern Ireland, at any given time, one in five adults will be experiencing mental ill-health. (Health Survey NI 2019/2020) – www.health-ni.gov.uk/publications/health-survey-northern-ireland-first-results-201920

You can get help from your GP or use the service directory on Minding your head to look for a service that meets your needs. Visit www.mindingyourhead.info/finding-help  

To find out more about the ‘Take 5 steps to Wellbeing’ visit www.mindingyourhead.info/Take5 

To find out more about Lifeline visit www.lifelinehelpline.info

Community pharmacists from across Northern Ireland have met politicians at Stormont to showcase their role in addressing winter pressures, whilst also highlighting the threat to services posed by imminent National Insurance Contribution hikes. Community Pharmacy NI says the financial blow is “unsustainable and unjust”.

The Chief Executive of Community Pharmacy NI, Gerard Greene, said, “Community Pharmacists are caught in a desperate dilemma: they are clearly demonstrating their value by absorbing pressure on frontline healthcare services; and yet they’re also experiencing unrelenting financial pressures over which they have no control.

“On one hand, community pharmacies have been instrumental in tackling winter pressures, with the delivery of Flu and Covid-19; and they are testing and treating key health conditions like bacterial sore throats and urinary tract infections (UTIs) so that less patients need a GP appointment; on the other hand, they are about to face huge hikes in their running costs when the new National Insurance Contributions are introduced in April, which they have no way of absorbing.

National Insurance Contributions paid by employers are due to rise from 13.8% to 15% from 1 April, in a move introduced by UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves in the Autumn Budget. There are also changes to the National Minimum Wage with Community Pharmacy NI estimating that these changes will cost the sector here an additional £10million a year in payroll costs.

Gerard Greene explained that, in the face of this, the options for the sector are limited and he has warned that the impact will be felt by patients. He continued, “In the private sector, businesses facing these National Insurance rises will, most likely, consider increasing the prices they charge for goods and services to cover the extra running cost. Community pharmacies do not have this option and unlike the health service they are not protected from these Budget increases.”

“The only other way they can reduce the impact of this increased staff cost is to either cut staff numbers, or to reduce opening hours. The reality is that individual pharmacy owners are already propping up the cost of providing this national health service from their own savings, so any further increased costs are unsustainable and unjust. We welcome the opportunity to meet with elected members today to seek their support. We are asking them to make the case at Westminster for relief from the NIC rise for community pharmacies, as well as for GPs, opticians and dentists, all of whom face the same blow from 1 April.”

Danny Donnelly MLA, who chairs the All-Party Group on Community Pharmacy said:
“The meeting of the All-Party Group was testament to the strong support for the sector from MLAs across the Assembly. We all know and value the work done in our communities by Community Pharmacies providing medications and advice and services to people in need in their local areas.“

“We heard about the additional pressures on this vital sector from the UK budget and how this will impact pharmacies across Northern Ireland. We need to see the sector stabilised to fully deliver the services we need to keep people healthy and reduce pressure on other areas of the Health Service.”

Community pharmacist Liam Bradley who runs a number of pharmacies in locations in Derry~Londonderry, Tyrone and Enniskillen) said, “In the wake of the recent extraordinary winter pressures felt across Northern Ireland, we are pleased to showcase the success of community pharmacy teams in keeping patients well at home, without the need for a GP appointment or a trip to the Emergency Department.”

“We’re extremely proud of the contribution community pharmacy teams have made in tackling the winter pressures across the health service. These services are a strong example of what various Health Ministers have described as the “shift left”, aimed at keeping people as well as possible, as close to home as possible.“
“We also know that, with more investment, we could do even more – there is a lot of clinical expertise which could be further tapped into, to boost community-based healthcare.“

“With ongoing financial pressures, medicine shortages and fluctuating drug pricing making cash flow very difficult, this move will, categorically, impact on my ability to continue delivering pharmacy services. I simply cannot absorb these cost increases and consequently opening hours and jobs are at risk, which will ultimately affect our ability to deliver for patients.”