The Company Chemists’ Association, Community Pharmacy England, the National Pharmacy Association and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society have today (5 March) published a joint Manifesto for community pharmacy, ahead of the General Election expected this year.
The manifesto can be used by anyone in the community pharmacy sector, including LPCs and all pharmacy owners, to engage with political parties and candidates in the run-up to the election.
The #VotePharmacy Manifesto and other resources that promote pharmacy to parliamentary candidates can be accessed from an online general election hub, www.votepharmacy.org. The hub includes practical advice to pharmacy teams about engaging with candidates.
Election candidates will be asked to show their support and back a six point plan to unleash the potential of community pharmacy:
- Fill the funding gap, and commit to long-term sustainable funding, so pharmacies can deliver more of the NHS care patients need.
- Support and enhance the community pharmacy workforce to ensure that pharmacists and their teams can continue to meet the needs of patients now and in the future.
- Ensure that patients can access the medicines they need, including an end-to-end review of the medicines supply chain.
- Rollout an enhanced Pharmacy First service for England, mirroring the highly successful approaches taken in Scotland and Wales.
- Empower community pharmacists to do more, with an ambitious roadmap for independent prescribing.
- Make pharmacies centres for public health, prevention and reducing health inequalities.
Company Chemists’ Association chief executive, Malcolm Harrison, said:
“Years of underfunding have led to the loss of 1,000+ pharmacies. The launch of Pharmacy First is a positive first step towards changing the future for pharmacy however, without additional investment in the core funding for medicines supply, we will continue to see further closures. Additional funding will help to protect patients’ access to medicines and NHS care, such as Pharmacy First. Moreover, we want to see Pharmacy First enhanced and expanded at pace – doing so makes sense for patients, pharmacies and the NHS”.
The hashtag #VotePharmacy will be used to share updates throughout the election campaign.
Further information and guidance will be available to all pharmacy owners and LPCs on the campaign website in due course.
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