Neighbourhood health will not be delivered if community work continues to be ‘undervalued, with a lack of meaningful opportunities’, MPs warn.
In a letter dated Thursday 8 January addressed to minister of state for health, Karin Smyth, the Health and Social Care Committee urged the government to ensure the upcoming 10 Year Workforce Plan makes the community environment a more attractive place to work with training opportunities.
Chair of the committee Layla Moran MP, called on the government to ‘equip healthcare professionals with the specific skills they need to support them to work effectively in community settings’.
They outlined that the skillset required for the government’s move to a neighbourhood health model is very different to an acute setting and appropriate training for this is required. Support was expressed for findings from The King’s Fund, which called for the plan to recognise a need for ‘more generalist and holistic skills’.
Ms Moran highlighted that staff need to gain skills to work ‘collaboratively and in a multidisciplinary manner’, however staff must also be supported to have capacity to take on the training.
Providing space for staff to undertake training and enhance their professional development is noted as a barrier for pharmacy, nursing and Allied Health Professionals (AHPs), with the latter highlighted as needing to be offered training and support programmes to allow them to gain leadership skills.
In the committee evidence session from November, Royal Pharmaceutical Society director for England, Amandeep Doll, noted that the requirement to have community pharmacists present so that medicines can be supplied prevented their ability to undertake further training.
In the letter, Ms Moran also highlighted that worse pay, less career development opportunities, and an inferior training offer makes community a less attractive place for staff to work.
Added to which there is a ‘low status’ attached to community roles which are negatively perceived ‘as being less interesting or challenging’, the letter states.
It also referenced Ms Doll’s point that, while a third of pharmacists are prescribers, less than 10% work in a community pharmacy. She recommended that commissioning prescribing services nationally would help to tackle this by allowing professionals to use their skills, while also improving job satisfaction.
Ms Moran called for ‘clear and concrete proposals’ to address challenges on making the community attractive to work in.
The 10 Year Workforce Plan has been delayed and is scheduled to be published in spring 2026.
A 6-week call for evidence, which sought views to inform the development of the plan, was carried out last year, and closed on 7 November 2025.
