Annual Report 2025-26

As Chairman of Community Pharmacy Scotland, I am pleased to present this Annual Report covering the period August 2025 to July 2026.

This has been a significant year for both Community Pharmacy Scotland and the wider community pharmacy network. Against a backdrop of continuing financial pressure, increasing demand for healthcare services and ongoing system reform, community pharmacy contractors across Scotland have continued to demonstrate remarkable resilience, professionalism and commitment to their patients and communities.

The Board has remained focused on its core responsibility: ensuring that CPS effectively represents and advances the interests of Scotland's community pharmacy owners while maintaining strong governance, financial oversight and strategic direction. Throughout the year, we have worked closely with the executive team to ensure the organisation remains equipped to respond to both the immediate challenges faced by contractors and the longer-term opportunities available to the sector.

One of the most important areas of focus during the year was the sustainability of the community pharmacy network. The Board received regular updates regarding the financial pressures facing contractors and the ongoing engagement with Scottish Government and NHS Scotland. While many of these discussions were ongoing at the close of the reporting period, the Board was clear that securing a sustainable future for community pharmacy must remain the central priority for the organisation and the sector alike.

Alongside these challenges, the Board has continued to look beyond immediate issues to the future role of community pharmacy within Scotland's healthcare system. Increasing demand across primary care, the development of prescribing services and the growing emphasis on prevention and community-based care all provide opportunities for pharmacy to make an even greater contribution to improving outcomes for patients. Ensuring that the sector is appropriately recognised, supported and resourced to fulfil this role remains a key area of focus.

During the year, the Board also continued its work to strengthen the governance and strategic development of CPS. A considerable amount of effort has been invested in translating our Mission, Vision and Strategy into practical organisational priorities, ensuring that CPS is well positioned to meet the needs of members in an increasingly complex environment. Good governance is not simply about oversight; it is about creating the conditions for effective leadership, sound decision-making and meaningful representation of the membership we serve.

I would like to thank my fellow Board Directors, Council members and Community Pharmacy Health Board representatives for the time, expertise and commitment they contribute on behalf of contractors across Scotland. I would also like to recognise the dedication of the CPS executive team, led by Chief Executive Matt Barclay, whose professionalism and determination have supported the organisation through a demanding and important year.

Above all, I extend my thanks to community pharmacy owners and their teams. Every day they continue to provide accessible, high-quality pharmaceutical care to patients throughout Scotland, often under significant operational and financial pressure. Their commitment remains the foundation upon which the sector's future will be built.

As we look ahead, there is no doubt that significant challenges remain. However, there are also opportunities to secure a stronger and more sustainable future for community pharmacy. The Board remains committed to working with members, government, NHS colleagues and partners across the healthcare system to ensure community pharmacy is recognised for the value it delivers and supported to realise its full potential.

MGMartin GreenChair

The future of community pharmacy in Scotland has never been more exciting. Our Manifesto lays out our ambition to Prevent, Detect and Treat ill health on behalf of the NHS, all in pursuit of a healthier nation. Government policy published this year speaks more and more about care in the community, making our network an ideal and powerful partner in a modern healthcare system.

We've been planning for this over many years, with our investments in developing our members' teams proving a wise strategy as accessibility of experts with independent prescribing and clinical assessment skills becomes a critical and desirable requirement.

This all said, we can only deliver the future from a stable base, and our negotiations are focused on achieving that sustainability for members. Only from a place of strength can we build and deliver existing and new services to a high standard, as the people of Scotland deserve.

We continue to work in a hybrid way, connecting with our network of pharmacy owners and their teams through a mix of in-person and online methods.

This year our reach grew across every channel. More people than ever used our website to find guidance, circulars and services, while our events took the voice of community pharmacy into the Scottish Parliament and the party conferences ahead of the 2026 Scottish Parliament elections.

As I reflect on 2025/26, I am struck by both the resilience of Scotland's community pharmacy network and the scale of opportunity that lies ahead. It has been another demanding year for the pharmacy network and teams, with continuing financial pressures, increasing workload and growing expectations of the role community pharmacy can play within the wider health and care system. Throughout this period, Community Pharmacy Scotland has remained focused on our core purpose: representing the interests of contractor members and working to secure a sustainable future for the network.

A significant focus throughout the year was the ongoing discussion with Scottish Government regarding the future sustainability of the community pharmacy network and the development of future funding arrangements. As financial pressures continued to affect contractors across Scotland, CPS remained actively engaged in representing members' interests, providing evidence of the challenges facing the sector and advocating for a funding framework that reflects both the value delivered by community pharmacy and the costs of providing NHS pharmaceutical care.

While these discussions remained ongoing at the end of the reporting period, there was increasing recognition among policymakers and stakeholders of the important contribution community pharmacy makes to Scotland's health and care system. The need to secure a sustainable future for the network and create a platform for service development became a central theme of our engagement throughout the year.

Alongside negotiations, this year saw a growing policy focus on the future of primary care in Scotland. A number of national policy and reform programmes continued to develop, creating opportunities for community pharmacy to demonstrate its value as an accessible, clinical and preventative health service. Community pharmacy is uniquely placed to help Scotland prevent ill health, detect illness earlier and treat more people closer to home. Through our engagement with Scottish Government, NHS colleagues and wider stakeholders, CPS has continued to advocate for investment that enables the network to play that enhanced role while maintaining the safe and reliable supply of medicines that remains fundamental to patient care. This aligns closely with our vision for community pharmacy as a core clinical access point within Scottish primary care.

Internally, 2025/26 has also been an important year for CPS as we moved from developing our Mission, Vision and Strategy to embedding it within the work of the organisation. Guided by our Board and Council, we have begun translating strategic ambition into practical action. This includes strengthening our policy influence, enhancing our audit and evidence capability, improving how we communicate with members and ensuring that our organisational priorities remain focused on delivering value for Scotland's pharmacy owners.

One of the most rewarding aspects of my role continues to be engaging directly with members. Whether through local events, individual visits, online engagement or wider stakeholder meetings, I am consistently encouraged by the commitment, professionalism and innovation demonstrated across the pharmacy network. These conversations provide invaluable insight and help ensure that CPS remains firmly connected to the realities of delivering care on the frontline.

I would like to thank the CPS Board, Council, CPHB members and the team at Queen Street for their dedication throughout the year. Their expertise, commitment and willingness to challenge constructively have been instrumental in supporting both the organisation and the wider network.

As this reporting year came to a close, it was clear that community pharmacy stood at an important crossroads. The sustainability challenges facing the network had not disappeared, but neither had the opportunities. Independent prescribing continued to expand, the role of community pharmacy within primary care continued to evolve, and there was growing recognition that more care should be delivered closer to home.

The work undertaken during 2025/26 helped lay the foundations for the next phase of discussion and engagement on the future of community pharmacy in Scotland. CPS remains committed to ensuring that the sector is not only recognised for the value it provides today, but is supported to realise its full potential in the years ahead.

2025/26 was another significant year for community pharmacy in Scotland, with ongoing financial pressures on contractors alongside growing demand on the vital services our network provides. These challenges and opportunities shaped much of CPS's work throughout the year, as we sought both to protect contractor interests and position community pharmacy for the future.

A major focus this year was moving from strategy development to strategy delivery. Following the introduction of our refreshed Mission, Vision and Strategy, we worked to highlight the opportunities and challenges, from our parliamentary event in November 2025 through to the Scottish elections in May 2026.

Our audit and services work remained a vital part of the support we provide to members. The team continued to focus on reimbursement accuracy, funding assurance and evidence gathering, helping to identify issues affecting contractors while providing valuable information to support policy development and negotiations.

Following the merger of NHS National Services Scotland (NSS) and NHS Education for Scotland (NES) into the newly created Public Services Delivery Scotland, we continue to work with NHS colleagues on making clear the requirements around prescription reimbursement and claiming.

Internally, we enhanced performance and development planning, improved organisational processes and developed new ways of measuring and communicating the impact of our work. Together, these improvements have helped build a stronger and more resilient organisation, and there is further to go on this.

A significant amount of effort was also directed towards supporting negotiations on the future community pharmacy financial framework. This required close collaboration across the organisation to ensure discussions were informed by robust financial, operational and audit evidence, helping to demonstrate both the value of community pharmacy and the challenges facing the network.

Looking ahead to 2026/27, our focus will be on continuing to build organisational capacity, improving ways of working, supporting delivery of our strategic priorities and ensuring CPS remains equipped to meet the changing needs of members and the wider healthcare environment.

Despite the challenges faced by the sector, I am proud of the progress made over the past year and the commitment shown by colleagues across the organisation. Their professionalism and expertise continue to make a real difference for community pharmacy contractors throughout Scotland, and I look forward to building on that progress in the year ahead.

As always, the Policy team has been hard at work representing pharmacy owners across our broad portfolio of work.

The team went through a few changes this year, with Gill leaving the team towards the end of the year. We would like to take the opportunity to thank her for her contribution and wish her well for the future. Sarah also headed off on maternity leave, with Amanda Rae returning from retirement as a consultant to provide us with additional capacity and expertise. This enabled the team to continue delivering to the high standards that we set for ourselves.

Our team spend most of their time moving our priorities forwards whilst understanding and influencing changes in the wider world that we know will affect you, our members.

Some of the highlights from this year have included:

• Setting of the CPS long-term Mission, Vision and Strategy for community pharmacy practice in Scotland
• Production of the 2026 CPS Manifesto, which we used to engage with political stakeholders in the run-up to the Scottish elections and continue to centre our discussions on
• Review and implementation of a new financial model for Pharmacy First and Pharmacy First Plus
• Commenced a CPS Board subgroup review of Pharmacy First as a whole, reporting back to the wider Board with recommendations on where the service should go next
• Supporting national and local bids for weight management services utilising community pharmacies
• Continued secondment into the Digital Prescribing and Dispensing Pathways programme, which aims to remove the paper prescription in Scotland. This project has now secured multi-year funding and build commenced towards the end of the year. CPS' integration into the programme has enabled us to influence how the system will work.
• Contributing to the work of the National Pharmacy Workforce Forum
• Participating in a review of post-registration pharmacist development options as the RPS became the Royal College of Pharmacy
• Continued management of the Independent Prescriber pathway for registered pharmacist employees
• Maintaining and growing our relationships with relevant organisations such as the RCPharm, NPA, GPhC and more
• Welcoming and supporting a new team of colleagues within the Pharmacy department at Scottish Government
• Delivering service delivery support sessions for the network, such as "Ask Me Anything" events and webinars

The Audit and Services Team has continued to play a central role in supporting Community Pharmacy Scotland's members, governance structures and internal operations throughout the year. Through a combination of audit expertise, operational improvements, data analysis and member support, the team has remained focused on delivering accurate, responsive and high-quality services to the network.

Some of the key highlights from the year include:

• The continued development of our electronic prescription checking and audit processes. Building on the introduction of the NSS payment system, the team has worked on developing the way we audit and report on payment issues.
• Preparing for the next phase of Disclosure Scotland's changes to the Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) Scheme. The team worked closely with employers and applicants across the network, providing advice and guidance throughout the transition period. Through clear communication and effective administration, we helped pharmacy owners and their teams understand and comply with the new legislative requirements.
• The transition of the CPS courier service to Royal Mail. This major operational change required the team to prioritise the service so that prescriptions continued to be collected and delivered on time throughout the transition. As part of this work, the team developed an automated Application Programming Interface (API) that books prescription collections directly, significantly reducing the manual administration the transition created.
• Our data analysts, Jody Thornton and Radek Kaszubowski, have continued to provide critical analytical support to the organisation. Their work has improved the quality and integrity of pharmacy data, supported ongoing reimbursement assurance activity and provided valuable modelling and insight to inform discussions with the Scottish Government and NSS on funding and service developments.

Throughout the year, the team has kept a strong focus on contractor engagement and education. Shaun and Milo have continued to deliver tailored support sessions for pharmacy contractors and their teams, improving understanding of reimbursement, remuneration and audit processes. These sessions have been well received and are helping to build confidence and accuracy across the network.

On the operations side, Bryan Cornwall has led a number of initiatives to strengthen organisational resilience and efficiency. These include the continued development of our CRM, improvements to document management and digital systems, and enhancements to the internal processes that support service delivery across the organisation. Alongside this, the team has continued to support the smooth running of the Queen Street office and the delivery of governance activities throughout the year.

Behind the scenes, the team has continued to deliver a wide range of essential services, including management of the courier service, Part 7 and adjusted price updates, pricing enquiries on behalf of the Scottish Government, PVG administration, member support and operational help for the wider organisation. The team has also played a key role in supporting CPS governance activities, organisational events and ongoing business improvement initiatives.

This year, our commitment to improving CPS's online user journey and providing additional value to our members has remained central to our activities. We focused on making it easier for members to find what they need, quickly and on any device, and on making sure the information they find is accurate and up to date.

The key focus areas this year are highlighted below:

• A rebuilt website. We redesigned pages across cps.scot to a new, consistent design with breadcrumbs, full-width layouts, a dark mode option and accessibility built in to WCAG AA standard.
• Record website traffic. The site received over 313,000 visits and 428,000 page views from 224,000 unique visitors, up 30%, 23% and 40% on the year before.
• Smarter email. Contractor mailings, Independent Prescriber mailings and our MSP and press communications now go out through HubSpot, so we can send members the information that is most relevant to them.
• Supporting the 2026 Manifesto. We delivered the digital side of the manifesto campaign, from web content and social media to coverage of our parliamentary events and party conference visits.
• A full content audit. Working with colleagues in Audit and Services and Policy, we began reviewing our most visited pages so that every page has an owner and is checked regularly.

Social and digital channels remain a key part of our communication strategy, allowing us to reach our audience quickly, highlight the sector's achievements and promote the work of CPS across Scotland. Email remains members' number one preference for hearing from us, so we will keep building on the personalisation work started this year.

Our events programme continues to play an important role in maintaining strong connections with members, decision makers and the wider sector. With the Scottish Parliament elections in May 2026, this year our events focused on putting community pharmacy and our 2026 Manifesto in front of politicians from across Scotland.

1. 12 Nov 2025

   November Council

   Board and Council members came together to discuss the future of community pharmacy, with a focus on the 2026 Manifesto, education and training, research and how Pharmacy First can keep evolving.

2. Nov 2025

   Parliamentary reception

   Hosted at the Scottish Parliament by George Adam MSP, with speakers Matt Barclay, pharmacy owner and independent prescriber Leanne Carey of Barnton Pharmacy, and Jenni Minto MSP, Minister for Public Health and Women's Health.

3. Feb 2026

   Party conferences

   CPS attended the Scottish Conservative conference at Murrayfield and the Scottish Liberal Democrat conference at Dynamic Earth, keeping the manifesto front and centre in conversations with MSPs.

4. 19 Mar 2026

   Parliamentary drop-in session

   Sponsored by Emma Harper MSP, the session highlighted how the network could deliver a targeted diabetes screening programme.

5. 1 Apr 2026

   First Minister's pharmacy visit

   John Swinney MSP and Neil Gray MSP visited CarePoint Pharmacy in Calderbank with Matt Barclay and Adam Osprey, followed by a focused discussion on the pharmacy contract and its funding.

6. 28 May 2026

   Unscheduled Care webinar

   An "Ask Me Anything" session on the Unscheduled Care Service, led by Gordon Winter and Adam Osprey with Martin Burnside of NHS24, giving pharmacy teams practical guidance and answers to their most common questions on a service used by over 600,000 patients each year. Watch the webinar on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

CPS also held 12 Board meetings across the year, alongside Council, our CP(HB) Committee meetings and Chairs and Vice Chairs meetings, while our "Ask Me Anything" sessions and webinars gave members further opportunities for direct dialogue and feedback.

There are many areas of governance relevant to CPS, such as ensuring compliance with statutory requirements, representing members fairly and transparently, and providing appropriate resources for an efficient and responsible service to members and our team.

Key governance activity this year included:

• Updated Articles of Association. Our Articles were amended by special resolution on 12 November 2025.
• CP(HB) Committee constitution. This was the first full year under the constitution amended by Council on 14 May 2025, which allows up to two pharmacists who are Associate Members to be appointed to each Community Pharmacy (Health Board) Committee.
• Board and Council. The Board met 12 times during the year, with attendance set out in the CPS Board section. Under our Articles, the Board is made up of 15 Council members, including the Chair and Vice Chair: six nominated by the Company Chemists' Association and nine elected from the elected pharmacy contractor group. Council is made up of 42 members elected by the 14 CP(HB) Committees.
• Financial oversight. Monthly financial reporting to the Board, preparation of the annual budget, and making sure our Companies House information is kept up to date.
• Systems and security. Continued work with our IT provider on secure ways of working, building on the upgrades begun in 2024/25.

Good governance is not simply about oversight. It creates the conditions for effective leadership, sound decision-making and meaningful representation of the membership we serve.