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The Community Pharmacy Manifesto

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The Community Pharmacy Manifesto

The Community Pharmacy Manifesto can make a real difference to the profession’s future. But it will only be successful if grass roots pharmacists engage with it, as IPF chief executive Claire Ward explains

In four months’ time we will have a new government. It may well be the same political persuasion as the one we currently have, or it may be more red than blue, with or without a hint of yellow, green or even purple. The truth is that, whichever party is in power after May 7, it will have a fresh mandate for the next five years and a huge economic challenge.

Despite all the main parties pledging to protect the NHS budget from the deep cuts that are expected across the public sector, that is not a pledge for no change. On the contrary. The NHS will continue to be expected to find year-on-year savings and ensure that existing resources are better used. Professionals will be expected to respond to the public health challenges in new ways, rather than simply hope to have money thrown at them.

Many people in the public sector will be fearful of the change that is coming. For pharmacy, which has a foot in both the public and private sector camps, it should be a huge opportunity. Yet I know that is not how all will feel. We should be seeing pharmacy relieving the pressure on GPs and A&E. Pharmacists should have access to shared care records and we should be seeing a better relationship, delivered by renegotiated contracts, between pharmacy and other healthcare professionals.

Change is inevitable

We know that change is inevitable as the NHS faces continued pressures, but it is also good for community pharmacy to make the most of the skills and expertise that it holds.

So the first challenge community pharmacy faces is to understand that it needs to change. The future is not about medicines distribution, it is about the delivery of value added service to ensure that the benefit of those medicines are achieved. It is also about how and where those services are delivered and how we measure the improvement in patient outcomes.

Once community pharmacy has decided what it needs to do in the new world of healthcare, it then needs to make sure that it has the right infrastructure and support to deliver it. We need to convince others that pharmacy does indeed have a lot of the answers.

The first challenge community pharmacy faces is to understand that it needs to change

Once we know what pharmacy can be, we then need to ensure that we have a common message to tell others. That must be the role of Pharmacy Voice. Yet it cannot be left to this organisation. The frontline pharmacists and their teams, whether in independents or multiples, need to help to get that message across. That can be the role of the membership organisations, such as IPF and NPA, to help disseminate these key campaigns.

The manifesto message

So we should not underestimate the significance of the recent launch of the Manifesto for Community Pharmacy. You can read all about it at www.pharmacymanifesto.com.

Firstly, it was significant because the organisations that launched it represented all of community pharmacy – Pharmacy Voice (with its component parts NPA, AIMp and CCA), PSNC and the IPF. Together we can legitimately claim to be the voice of community pharmacy. The prize of an enhanced role for pharmacy is too great to allow organisational or personal egos to get in the way.

Secondly, we have collectively agreed to campaign on the key issues that affect all of community pharmacy. Our five key pledges, if implemented, would make a real difference to the ability of pharmacy to deliver better patient outcomes.

Finally, the most significant part of this campaign that we will be running over the next five months will not be achieved by the organisations that are involved in it. This campaign will only be successful if grassroots frontline pharmacists get involved and take the messages to their politicians.

Make the case

Pharmacists need to get in touch with their local MP (and the other political parties) and invite them to visit the pharmacy. They can explain what happens in the pharmacy, the services delivered and the number of patients seen. You should not be surprised to know that more people see their pharmacist in a day than see their MP. Channel the influence you have upon the politicians.

We need politicians from all the parties to sign up to our manifesto. We will be recording who has supported it, through our website. This will raise the profile of pharmacy and, after the election, whoever is in power, we will be able to remind them of the commitments they made.

This campaign is also a chance to engage with patients and encourage them to contact MPs and candidates, too. Patients can be powerful advocates for the services they want to see.

We will work with all organisations across community pharmacy to help increase the awareness of this campaign and make it successful. If we get this right, we can make a real difference.

Contacting the IPF The Independent Pharmacy Federation can be reached by e-mail at claire@theipf.co.uk, or via its website at www.theipf.co.uk

 

 

 

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