Leading economists have shown that the NHS could save billions of pounds through an expansion of pharmacy services that help patients use their medicines effectively.
The York Health Economics Consortium (University of York) modelled a potential £1.2 billion of savings and calculated other large scale benefits – driving a further £2.7 billion of value in health outcomes for the NHS - in a research report prepared for the National Pharmacy Association (NPA).
They analysed the possible economic benefits of expanding the reach of current NHS services and the potential gain from commissioning new pharmaceutical care services, based on evidence from published literature.
Savings were identified from helping people stay healthier, avoiding unnecessary hospital admissions and also deprescribing medicines that are no longer required.
Full use of one service alone – the NHS Discharge Medicines Service - could relieve pressure on wards by releasing nearly an extra million days currently spent in hospital beds.
Prescribing reviews for people taking 10 or more medicines could result in net savings of nearly £620 million.
Offering Structured Medication Reviews in community pharmacy has the potential to save a large amount of GP practice time and reduce NHS costs, particularly if this is targeted at people currently taking potentially addictive medicines - a population estimated to be over six million with only 16% receiving an SMR in 2023/24.
The data shows potential benefits for patients equivalent to over 100,000 years of additional healthy life per annum – so called ‘Quality Adjusted Life Years’.
NPA Chief Executive, Henry Gregg, said today:
“This compelling new report shows how better patient outcomes could be achieved for a reduced overall cost, given investment in medicines services provided by local pharmacies.
“This is a win-win-win. The public purse gains from a substantial return on investment, the NHS gains because we can relieve pressure on hospital beds and, above all, patients enjoy longer, healthier lives.
“As accessible medicines experts, community pharmacists are already the go-to healthcare professionals for millions of people who want support getting the best, safe use from medicines.
“Patients using our medicines advice services already benefit from reduced pain, reduced hospital length of stay and improved overall physical and mental wellbeing.
“But we can go much further if properly funded, to help patients and taxpayers. I think of this as a kind of ‘medicines reset’ for a population that isn’t currently getting best use from their prescribed medicines.
“Ambitious pharmaceutical care that transforms people’s experience of medicines should sit right at the heart of our next community pharmacy contract and the government’s wider plans to implement its 10-year Health Plan.”
Lead researcher for the project at York Health Economics Consortium, Nick Hex, said:
"Medicines are a considerable cost to the health system, so it is vital that their use is optimised. Our report shows that more investment in community pharmacist support could result in very substantial benefits to patients and better value for money for the NHS."
The researchers considered the economic impact of a variety of medicines optimisation support delivered by pharmacists, including educational interventions, monitoring, deprescribing, medication review, pain assessment and others.
Among the findings were:
Expanding a single NHS pharmacy service – the New Medicine Service – has the potential to save an additional £370 million and add £2.3 billion of value in terms of expected health gain. For every £1 spent on NMS, there is a cost saving of £4.60 and a health gain valued by NICE at £28.57.
Having all areas across England delivering the NHS Discharge Medicine Service to the same potential as the currently highest delivering area could result in an additional annual cost saving of £26.3 million and reduce hospital bed days by almost a million days.
Prescribing reviews for people taking 10 or more medicines could result in net savings of nearly £620 million, from reduced medicine costs and a reduction in hospital admissions.
Increasing uptake of personalised asthma action plans if they were routinely provided by community pharmacy could prevent hospital visits and deaths and generate additional cost savings of over £70 million.
In total, £1.21 billion of potential savings were identified from investing in community pharmacy medicines advice services, plus £2.7 billion value measured in terms of expected health gain.
The NHS in England spends more than £19 billion on medicines, making this the second largest single expenditure, after workforce.
Notes to Editors
Economic Analysis of Expanding the Role of Community Pharmacy Services in Medicines Optimisation was commissioned by the National Pharmacy Association and conducted by the York Health Economics Consortium in April 2025.
A full copy of the report can be found here. The National Pharmacy Association represents around 6000 independent community pharmacies across the UK.
The researchers examined the economic potential of expanding the role of community pharmacy in medicines optimisation – which involves ensuring that people get the right choice of medicines at the right time and are empowered to use them effectively.
The data shows benefits for patients equivalent to over 100,000 years of additional healthy life per annum (‘Quality Adjusted Life Years’). QALYs are a widely used measure in health economics that combines the quantity and quality of life gained from medical interventions. A QALY represents one year of life lived in perfect health.
