MPs and Peers call for pharmacy intervention

39 MPs and Peers from across the political spectrum have signed letters to the Health Secretary, Steve Barclay MP, raising their growing concern about the pressures facing England’s community pharmacies and the risks this poses to patient care and safety.

Steve Barclay MP received correspondence from 23 Opposition MPs, with seven Peers also signing a letter. Separately, 9 Conservative MPs also wrote to the Health Secretary and up to 10 others have signalled their intention to write to the relevant Minister.

The Parliamentarians acknowledged that pharmacies have the potential to do more to support the NHS and they called for the Government to urgently consider:

1. Short-term funding to stabilise the community pharmacy sector and enable pharmacies to keep their doors open.
2. A commitment to working with the sector to create a fair and fit for purpose future funding model that ensures sustainability and properly funds pharmacies for what they do.

All signatories also called for the introduction of a fairly-funded Pharmacy First service.

The letters, which PSNC coordinated,  were part of our ongoing work to ensure that the concerns of community pharmacy continue to be heard loudly and clearly within Government, pressing for positive action to relieve the pressure on community pharmacy.

As part of this, PSNC along with the other community pharmacy national representative bodies and England’s largest pharmacy chains also recently wrote a letter to the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, urging him to invest in the sector. You can read the letter here.

And we are continuing to work with the other national bodies on the #saveourpharmacies campaign – resources for this are expected to be launched in the next few weeks and a wave of coordinated activities will be taking place throughout March.

Janet Morrison OBE, Chief Executive of PSNC said:

“We’d like to thank all MPs and Peers who have written to the Health Secretary. Parliamentarians are right to be worried about the health of community pharmacies who are facing significant challenges and are struggling to keep their doors open.

We are continuing to press for urgent action by keeping the pressure up both across Parliament and through the national media. I urge the Secretary of State to listen to the worries of his fellow MPs and to step in to save our pharmacies.”