EPISODE 9: Community pharmacy and the path to freedom

In this episode our guests discuss how community pharmacy is helping the country out of lockdown and how it will support the NHS recover from covid-19. Maria Caulfield MP, a nurse by profession, says community pharmacies are increasingly significant to the success of the covid vaccination programme and public health in general.

David Howells, a senior pharmacist for Kamson’s and NPA board member Olivier Picard join Maria for this, the final podcast in the current series.

In this episode of Pharmacy Coronacasts, our guests discuss whether pharmacies can bear for much longer the strain of covid-19 and funding cuts.  Labour MP Taiwo Owatemi, a pharmacist herself, fears the consequences for her constituents if pharmacy services are forced into decline. NPA board member Sanjeev Panesar calls on the government to write off the £370m loans given to pharmacies to cover the unavoidable extra costs of serving patients during the pandemic. Graham Phillips, Managing Director of Manor Pharmacy Group, tells us the sad story of being forced to close one of his pharmacies and the impact on the local community.

One thing often said about coronavirus is that “we’re all in this together”.  In our latest Coronacast, a high profile GP, a nurse, a pharmacist and an MP discuss how working together across health care professions benefits patients. ‘Standing Together Against the Virus’ is one of the most encouraging episodes in our series so far.

In this episode former health minister Steve Brine MP calls on government ‘from the top down’ to back community pharmacy, as pharmacies brace themselves for a second wave of COVID-19. He is joined by fellow guests Peter Horrocks, Superintendent Pharmacist of Knights Pharmacy in Durham, Ali Sparkes, pharmacist and owner of The Health Dispensary in Wales and Olivier Picard, Board member at the National Pharmacy Association. Is the sector ready for the challenges of the next weeks and months – and what can politicians do to help pharmacy teams do their life saving work?

Are pharmacies going to go forwards or backwards in the years ahead? According to our expert panel, a lot depends on the political and financial commitment the government is prepared to give, and whether NHS England can think flexibly about the resources at its disposal. A former Minister for Pharmacy – in government when funding cuts were made in England – tells us that the facts have changed and it’s now time to invest in pharmacy services. An NPA member in Scotland describes positive developments north of the border.

Episode 4 of our Pharmacy Coronacast series tackles the topic ‘Tech and the human touch in healthcare’. Labour Party Health Spokesperson, Alex Norris MP and pharmacist Lee Williams join NPA staff to explore what COVID-19 tells us about the future of hands-on care in the community. Does there have to be a trade-off between remote, online services and local services which provide face-to-face healthcare in the community?

This is a lively conversation about pharmacy’s role in deprived areas during the coronavirus pandemic and an appeal for resources to do even more in the future.

Participating are Paul Bristow MP who sits on the parliamentary Health Select Committee, Local Pharmaceutical Committee chief Rekha Shah and NPA board member Ian Strachan.

In this second episode, presenter Steve Dixon is joined by David Davis MP, pharmacist Simon Butterworth from Cumbria and vice chair of the NPA Nick Kaye.

They discuss ‘COVID-19 in the Countryside’, the position of pharmacies as community hubs and the particular challenges of delivering health care in remote towns and villages.