To ask the Minister of Health for an update on recruitment of pharmacists into GP practices; and what impact GP-based pharmacy recruitment will have on staffing levels within community pharmacy.

Since 2016 Practice Based Pharmacists (PBPs) have been recruited over 5 waves. At January 2020 there were 274 pharmacists (233 whole time equivalent (WTE)) in post in GP practices across Northern Ireland.

The sixth wave of recruitment for PBPs was carried out in February 2020 but implementation of this final wave has been delayed and it is now anticipated that the majority of wave 6 staff will take up post in September 2020.

This will bring the total to approximately 330 pharmacists (281 WTE) and will cover every GP practice in Northern Ireland equating to approximately 1 WTE PBP per 6,500 patients.

Data provided to the Department, to inform the development of the Pharmacy Workforce Review which is currently being finalised, demonstrates that a minority of pharmacists who have left community pharmacy in recent years have been recruited into general practice, with significant movement to take up posts in hospital practice or in the Republic of Ireland or Great Britain.

The Pharmacy Workforce Review found that, unlike for HSC Trusts, there is currently no way of accurately assessing need in community pharmacies. It is intended that this will be addressed during the implementation of the Review with a proposal to develop a structured process to monitor current and projected workforce needs in all sectors.