Pharmacy Voice has confirmed that its office will close at the end of April. Subject to legal requirements and timings, the organisation will be formally wound-up over the summer. 

The NPA gave notice that it would leave Pharmacy Voice at the end of 2017. This triggered a clause in Pharmacy Voice’s governing documents which prevents it continuing without all three of its founding members, of which the NPA was one. As a result, the Pharmacy Voice Board has been making plans for its closure, and the transfer of its representative activities back to its constituent member associations.

The three trade association members of Pharmacy Voice – the Association of Independent Multiple Pharmacies (AIM), the Company Chemists’ Association (CCA) and the NPA – will continue to work together on key sector-wide work streams previously delivered by Pharmacy Voice. In particular, Pharmacy Voice’s patient safety work and the hosting of the community pharmacy Medication Safety Officer (MSO) Group will be taken on by the CCA. The associations have also resolved that cross-sector work on community pharmacy IT and workforce development will be coordinated by the NPA and CCA respectively. 

The associations say they will continue to provide a ‘unified approach’ on other matters where their interests align, with a particular focus on delivering the vision set out in the Community Pharmacy Forward View. Key stakeholders have been informed of these plans, and the transfer of representational responsibilities, including where Pharmacy Voice staff have held membership of key NHS and government groups and committees, has been initiated. 

Some members of Pharmacy Voice staff will be transferring to either the CCA or NPA on 1 April. Other members of staff are being made redundant as a result of the closure and will leave over the next few weeks.