Political and stakeholder engagement

Political and stakeholder engagement

The NPA works tirelessly to push community pharmacy up the political agenda and ensure the sector gets the recognition and support it deserves.

Who we are and what we believe

We conduct a wide range of advocacy and lobbying activities on behalf of our members and community pharmacy. This includes meeting and briefing MPs, Peers and Ministers, making representations to the government and running campaigns. The NPA also supports its members to engage locally with their MPs.

The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Sajid Javid giving a speech to NPA members at NPA’s centenary event in Apothecaries’ Hall, London

All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG)

All-Party Parliamentary Groups are informal cross-party groups in Parliament that consist of Members of both Houses. They are established and run by MPs and Peers who join together to pursue a particular topic or interest. APPGs are an effective way of bringing parliamentarians together to raise awareness of a specific subject and to highlight issues and concerns.

The NPA is a co-sponsor of the All-Party Pharmacy Group (APPG) which was formed in 1999. For information about the group and its work, visit the APPG’s website. If you have any questions about the APPG, please contact the group’s secretariat by emailing contact@pharmacyappg.co.uk.

NPA Key Asks of Government

The NPA is relentlessly making the case at a national level for the government to unleash the sector’s huge potential by providing better funding. We continue to push the government to provide further investment in community pharmacy which needs to be fair, secure and sustainable.

Amongst other things, we are asking the government to:

1. End the threat of pharmacy closures through a fair and sustainable approach to funding.
2. Empower community pharmacists to take pressure off other parts of the NHS through a ‘Pharmacy First’ approach.
3. Expand community pharmacy’s role at the forefront of vaccine delivery.
4. Maximise the value of the community pharmacy network to tackle public health challenges in every community.
5. Make community pharmacies fully integrated with other parts of the NHS.
6. Develop a vision for community pharmacy and a strategy to unleash the sector’s potential.

Health Secretary Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP meeting NPA Chair Andrew Lane at Keencare Pharmacy

Minister for Care and Mental Health Gillian Keegan MP meeting NPA Chair Andrew Lane at Portmans Pharmacy

Engaging with your local MP

A highly effective way to gain political support for our sector and put pressure on the government is for pharmacies to engage with their local MPs. There are a number of ways for MPs to raise issues in Parliament on behalf of constituents.

We have developed a template letter to MPs for NPA members to use to contact their local MP. This template letter can be edited and tailored depending on your specific asks and messages. Find out who your local MP is and how to contact them by visiting the UK Parliament website. 

If you have any questions, please contact us by emailing independentsvoice@npa.co.uk.

Minister for Vaccines and Public Health Maggie Throup MP visiting NPA member Wilsons Pharmacy