Dear Prime Minister,
On behalf of the National Pharmacy Association and our community pharmacy members, we congratulate you on your appointment as Prime Minister.
The National Pharmacy Association working with the overwhelming majority of pharmacies in England – offering health care every day on every high street . We represent independent pharmacies from large regional chains through to single-handed local pharmacies. Your record in Greater Manchester shows the value of bringing health services closer to the people and communities they serve and treating the person holistically. The Live Well programme shows healthcare works best when it is preventative, embedded in the community, and locally delivered to best serve the local population.
Community pharmacies are doing this everyday communities nationwide and are a highly cost-effective way to support your ambition to create prosperous and healthy local neighbourhoods. Time is short and our members have shown time and again they can create change that people see and feel at pace.
Our members are on every high street, in cities, towns, rural areas and in deprived communities. Our members ensure that the public can obtain walk-in health care for a range of common conditions without having to take part in the 8 am scramble for a GP appointment.
Pharmacies already provide support for minor illnesses through the Pharmacy First programme, the New Medicines Service, and contraception and vaccination services. Most recently, our members have been at the forefront of the rollout of the new MenB vaccine following last year’s tragedy in Canterbury.
Our members hold the potential to do even more.
The existing and embedded community pharmacy network should be central to the government’s ambitions to move care out of hospitals and into communities, improve prevention and reduce pressure elsewhere in the NHS.
Pharmacies are ready and willing to deliver more for patients and the NHS. Pharmacists are highly trained clinical healthcare professionals and increasing numbers are becoming independent prescribers, which provides a great opportunity for the government to significantly enhance patient access to care.
The Government has already moved to start addressing a decade of neglect in this vital local health network. But more is needed. And new responsibilities must be supported by sustainable funding and long-term investment. Sustained financial pressure continues to mean neighbourhoods are still losing their local pharmacy. Community pharmacies continue to face severe operating-cost pressures, including staffing, energy, transport and premises costs. We urge the government to consider further targeted support for our members.
But the payback for investing in our members is huge. Supporting community pharmacy is not simply an additional cost. By treating minor conditions, playing a bigger role in managing long-term conditions, preventing ill health, supporting patients in getting the best value from medicines, and through condition case-finding, pharmacies could save money for the NHS, help patients remain well and reduce avoidable demand on other parts of the health system, such as hospitals, A&E departments and GP surgeries. At the NPA we are ready to support you and your colleagues to deliver those ambitions.
One thing you could do now to support the pharmacy network and bolster its role as an anchor of high street health is to reform business rates and offer similar relief to pharmacies as that enjoyed by other parts of the NHS so they can play their role supporting high-street businesses and their communities.
Your commitment to devolution presents an opportunity to ensure that local health services better reflect the needs of their communities.
Community pharmacies can contribute hugely to local health planning and can offer so much value in the development of neighbourhood health services. Community pharmacy services commissioned nationally ensure a clear and equitable offer across England, and local systems need to be better empowered and supported to build additional services tailored to their populations' particular needs.
A strong national framework, combined with meaningful local partnership, integration and financial flows, would enable community pharmacy to contribute fully to both national NHS priorities and local approaches to care.
The NPA and our members look forward to working constructively with your government to ensure community pharmacy is recognised as a cornerstone of health in local communities.
