The Liberal Democrats have published their manifesto earlier today and it pledges to:
- Free up GPs’ time “by giving more prescribing rights and public health advisory services to qualified pharmacists, nurse practitioners and paramedics”
- “Work towards a fairer and more sustainable long-term funding model for pharmacies and build on the Pharmacy First approach to give patients more accessible routine services and ease the pressure on GPs.
- Make prescriptions for people with chronic mental health conditions free on the NHS, as part of a wider commitment to review the entire schedule of exemptions for prescription charges.
Please see our statement below:
Malcolm Harrison, Chief Executive of the CCA said:
“We are glad to see many of the proposals the CCA has been campaigning on and briefing the party on feature in the Liberal Democrats’ manifesto.
We wholeheartedly welcome the manifesto’s call for a fairer and more sustainable long-term funding model. With a 30% real-terms cut in core funding since 2015 and nearly 1,200 closures in that time, the current funding framework is untenable.
Moreover, the party’s pledge to build on the Pharmacy First service is a no-brainer which will free up GP capacity and improve patient access.
The manifesto also rightly talks about extending prescribing rights and public health advisory services to pharmacists. Independent Prescribing is a generational opportunity which we must not waste”.