Programme for Government 2025-2026

Published: 08/05/25

The First Minister of Scotland, John Swinney, announced this week the Programme for Government for 2025/26. He stated that "this programme is focused on delivery and hope. Delivery in response to the challenges we know people are facing in their everyday lives. Hope because we are making the most of Scotland’s vast resources to deliver higher standards of living and an improved quality of life for people in all corners of this land."

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The programme details health care commitments such as reducing the time people wait for treatment by ensuring people can see their GP and get cared for in their community. Expanding on this the programme states the NHS Pharmacy First Scotland service will be expanded further, enabling community pharmacists to treat a greater number of clinical conditions and preventing the need for a GP appointment.

The preventative health agenda also highlighted the commitment to fully implement the Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) standards with the development of a national service specification to help tackle drug and alcohol related deaths across Scotland.

Both of these commitments are areas Community Pharmacy Scotland (CPS) shares strategic ambition with. We have seen in the recent Scottish Government NHS Operational Improvement Plan that the community pharmacy network has been recognised for its invaluable delivery of care in the community. The aim is to build on this further as we see the balance of care shifting into the community setting where community pharmacies are already well established and relied upon by the public. CPS look forward to working closely with the Scottish Government to explore the untapped potential within the community pharmacy network and sustainably develop services on behalf of our members. 

Keep an eye out for the launch of the newly developed CPS strategy in summer 2025, where you will find our strategic proposals for the community pharmacy network detailed.

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