Community pharmacists play an essential role in delivering accessible, equitable, and high-quality healthcare across Europe. They are among the most trusted and readily available healthcare providers, often serving as the first, and sometimes only, point of contact between people and the healthcare system. This report provides a comprehensive overview of current pharmacy services and presents policy recommendations to unlock their full potential.

The report shows how pharmacy services build on the trusted foundation of dispensing to deliver an ever-expanding range of health interventions: from health promotion and disease prevention to chronic disease management, managing acute conditions such as common ailments, medicines use reviews, vaccination, screening, referral, and digital health support. These services significantly contribute to improved patient outcomes, reduce hospitalisations, enhance therapeutic adherence, and alleviate the burden on the healthcare system.

The COVID-19 pandemic further accentuated the strategic role of community pharmacies. Throughout the crisis, pharmacists ensured continuity of care, tested for infections, administered millions of vaccines, delivered medicines, and supported public health initiatives, reaffirming their value as resilient frontline providers. However, systemic barriers – such as outdated legal frameworks, inconsistent reimbursement models, and limited read and write access to digital health records – continue to hinder the broader implementation and recognition of these essential services.

POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS

A strategic policy shift: recognising community pharmacies as essential partners in delivering people-centred, sustainable healthcare and empowering them through supportive regulation, appropriate investment, and systemic integration.

Regulatory reforms: expand pharmacists’ scope of practice according to competency areas and remove legal barriers to service provision. 

Sustainable financing: ensure appropriate and consistent remuneration for pharmacy services to reflect their clinical and public health contributions.

Workforce planning: strengthen education, leadership, and ongoing professional development.

Crisis preparedness: fully integrate pharmacies into national public health response frameworks.

Access and equity: strengthen pharmacies’ role in reducing health inequities by ensuring their presence in underserved areas and enabling access to specialty medicines, supporting territorial cohesion.

Antimicrobial stewardship: enable pharmacies to take a proactive role in infection control and antibiotic use.