The All-Party Pharmacy Group (APPG) has facilitated a private meeting between the major pharmacy bodies and key individuals from the Labour Party Shadow Health team.
Representatives from the CCA, NPA, PSNC, and the RPS met with Shadow Health Secretary John Healey MP, Shadow Health Minister Liz Kendall MP and their political advisors, in the House of Commons to discuss the key issues impacting the pharmacy profession. The lunch was arranged by the APPG, and was hosted by the Group’s Chair Rt Hon Kevin Barron MP.
Rt Hon Kevin Barron MP said:
“This meeting offered a unique opportunity to engage with the Shadow Health team at this crucial time. We discussed the implications and opportunities for pharmacy arising from the Health & Social Care Bill, but we also had an extremely useful conversation about the bigger picture – how to ensure we retain and build on all the good things that pharmacy does for patients and the public while the NHS goes through this major reform programme. None of us wants to see those good things lost or neglected, quite the opposite. John, Liz and I are hugely positive about pharmacy and it really was helpful to hear the profession’s leaders setting out the steps they see as necessary if pharmacy is to reach its full potential. The APPG has worked hard to communicate what pharmacy has to offer, and will be working with my shadow front bench colleagues and politicians from all sides of the House to ensure this is acted on”.
John Healey MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Health said:
‘This was a really useful meeting. Both Liz and I are strong supporters of pharmacy and recognise the profession’s capability in tackling some of our biggest health inequalities. Pharmacy is unique in its ability to reach people in communities that are often the hardest the reach, and in addressing major problems whether it is tackling medicine waste, adherence, public health or helping patients manage long term conditions. I look forward to working closely with the APPG and the pharmacy bodies in the future”.
