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The All-Party Pharmacy Group held a drop-in event in Parliament on the 29th of March where MPs and Peers had the opportunity to hear from frontline pharmacists about the significant funding and workforce pressures they are currently facing.
The members of the APPG Pharmacy and those of the pharmacy community who joined us on the day to share their experience would like to thank the MPs and Peers who attended the event.
On March 14, the All-Party Pharmacy Group, together with pharmacy representatives and supportive MPs, has delivered a letter signed by 50 parliamentarians to No 10 Downing Street. The letter calls for Mr Sunak and his Government to take urgent action to address the funding and workforce crisis, so that the potential of the pharmacy sector can be unleashed.
We would like to extend our gratitude to the 50 MPs and Peers that signed the letter and offered their support to local and community pharmacies.
The All-Party Pharmacy Group has hosted a drop-in event in Parliament on the 23rd of January to mark the publication of our new "The Future of Pharmacy Manifesto" report.
The members of the APPG Pharmacy and those of the pharmacy community who joined us on the day would like to extend their gratitude to the 27 MPs who have made time in their schedules to attend the launch. On the day, we had many interesting discussions about the role pharmacies have in our local communities and how we can better empower them to do even more. We hope this is the first step towards the future of pharmacy we envisioned in our report and that we can continue to rely on your support on the road ahead.
A new report (published on 23 January 2023) by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Pharmacy calls for “urgent action” to deliver on the potential of pharmacy teams and relieve significant funding and workforce pressures.
The report highlights the need for a new “strategic vision” for pharmacy and highlights opportunities for the pharmacy network to be empowered to deliver even more for patients. However, the manifesto also underlines the very real risk that this opportunity may be lost if significant and ongoing pressures are not addressed.
The recommendations are based on written and oral evidence gathered from frontline pharmacists, GPs, professional bodies and healthcare experts.
To harness the potential of pharmacy, the report recommendations that:
The Government must take urgent action to relieve the funding pressures on the community pharmacy sector in the short term and review the long term funding model for pharmacy
The Government must harness the power of pharmacy to help the NHS deal with the COVID-19 backlog and the UK’s growing healthcare challenges
Future commissioning and funding must recognise that community pharmacy is the front door to the NHS for many patients
The DHSC and NHS England must urgently re-evaluate the current and long-term workforce needs of the entire health and social care system, including pharmacy
The Government should build on current commitments to provide funded independent prescriber training to ensure all existing pharmacists can train as independent prescribers if they so choose
For this ambitious new vision to be realised, community pharmacy must be placed at the heart of decision-making and policy development
Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Pharmacy, Taiwo Owatemi MP said:
“There is a tremendous opportunity for ministers to empower local pharmacies and pharmacy teams to help even more patients and use their skills to support efforts to clear NHS backlogs. But right now pharmacies are being squeezed by a combination of funding and workforce pressures. People are often shocked to learn how many local pharmacies are lost each year due to financial pressure. If ever there was a time to properly fund and support our pharmacies it is now.”
The All-Party Pharmacy Group heard from frontline pharmacists and industry representatives how local pharmacies can play a bigger role in primary care, help address the NHS backlogs and tackle winter pressures.
The panel consisted of:
Janet Morrison OBE, Chief Executive of the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee
Malcolm Harrison, Chief Executive of The Company Chemists’ Association
Thorrun Govind, Chair of the Royal Pharmacy Society’s (RPS) English Pharmacy Board
Sanjeev Panesar, National Pharmacy Association Board Member, and Pharmacist Superintendent and Owner of the Pan Pharmacy Group
Sandeep Dhami, Association of Independent Multiple Pharmacies member and Superintendent at MW Phillips Chemist
At the session, which took place in Westminster on Wednesday 1st November, 18 Parliamentarians were told about the myriad of ways pharmacies contribute to the health of the nation. Examples included providing informal advice consultations with no specific funding attached them, administering large scale vaccine programmes such as COVID and flu, providing lifestyle improvement services such as stop smoking schemes, and improving medicine optimisation.
However, the panel of experts also highlighted that pharmacists are ‘running out of fuel’ with the growing challenges such as flat funding, workforce shortages and the cost-of-living crisis impacting pharmacies’ ability to deliver vital services.
At a time when the NHS is facing overwhelming pressures, Parliamentarians were told that government should be looking to protect pharmacies and working to unleash the full potential of an existing network of medically trained professionals at the heart of communities.
The APPG also held its Annual General Meeting, which saw the election of a new committee including Taiwo Owatemi, Labour MP for Coventry North West, as the new Chair. Former Chair Jackie Doyle-Price MP had stood down after being appointed Minister of State at the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy in September 2022.
We are therefore pleased to announce the election of;
Chair: Taiwo Owatemi, Labour MP for Coventry North West.
Vice-Chair: Lord Clement-Jones
Vice-Chair: Baroness Meacher
Vice-Chair: Sir George Howarth, Labour MP for Knowsley
Vice-Chair: Derek Thomas, Conservative MP for St Ives
Vice-Chair: Peter Dowd, Labour MP for Bootle
Officer: Elliot Colburn, Conservative MP for Carshalton and Wallington
Chair of the All-Party Pharmacy Group, Taiwo Owatemi MP said: “Delighted to be the Chair of the All-Party Pharmacy Group. As an NHS cancer pharmacist, I look forward to continuing to work with colleagues across Parliament to promote the vital role that pharmacies and pharmacists play in delivering healthcare in Britain.”
Vice-Chair of the All-Party Pharmacy Group, Derek Thomas MP said: “Pharmacies have the potential to play a much bigger part in primary health care, and NHS commissioning must make full use of this important local resource. I am proud to be the new Vice-Chair of the All-Party Pharmcy Group campaigning for the NHS to harness the power of community pharmacy.”
The All-Party Pharmacy Group is delighted to announce the election of new Vice-Chairs of the APPG. The new Vice-Chairs are as following:
Lord Clement-Jones
Baroness Meacher
Sir George Howarth, Labour MP for Knowsley
Derek Thomas, Conservative MP for St Ives
Peter Dowd, Labour MP for Bootle
Vice-Chair of the All-Party Pharmacy Group, Derek Thomas MP said: “Pharmacies have the potential to play a much bigger part in primary health care, and NHS commissioning must make full use of this important local resource. I am proud to be the new Vice-Chair of the All-Party Pharmcy Group campaigning for the NHS to harness the power of community pharmacy.”
The All-Party Pharmacy Group is delighted to announce the election of Elliot Colburn MP, Conservative MP for Carshalton and Wallington and long-standing member of the APPG, as an Officer.
The All-Party Pharmacy Group is delighted to announce the election of Taiwo Owatemi MP for Coventry North West as the new Chair of the APPG.
Chair of the All-Party Pharmacy Group, Taiwo Owatemi MP said: “Delighted to be the Chair of the All-Party Pharmacy Group. As an NHS cancer pharmacist, I look forward to continuing to work with colleagues across Parliament to promote the vital role that pharmacies and pharmacists play in delivering healthcare in Britain.”
The All-Party Pharmacy Group is pleased to announce that we will be hosting our annual general meeting and parliamentary event: How Local Pharmacies Can Help: From patient safety to diagnosis – on Tuesday 1st November between 15:00 to 16:00, Room W2 Westminster Hall.
Across the UK every day, countless lives are saved or improved immeasurably by pharmacists providing invaluable services. This event will bring together Parliamentarians, industry experts and frontline pharmacists from across the UK to discuss pharmacy’s vital work in patient diagnosis, fighting health inequalities across the UK and exploring the extensive list of vital services provided by pharmacies to communities up and down the country.
Attending Parliamentarians will be asking our panel of speakers for their views on the support the sector needs to unlock the full potential of pharmacies.
Janet Morrison OBE, Chief Executive of Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee
Malcolm Harrison, Chief Executive of The Company Chemists’ Association
Thorrun Govind, Chair of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society
Sanjeev Panesar, National Pharmacy Association Board Member, and Pharmacist Superintendent and Owner of the Pan Pharmacy Group
Sandeep Dhami, Association of Independent Multiple pharmacies member and superintendent at MW Phillips Chemist
We will also be holding our AGM and electing our new officers.
To RSVP, or for more information, please email contact@pharmacyappg.co.uk
