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NPA members vote for collective action

In November, National Pharmacy Assocation (NPA) members (in England, Wales and Northern Ireland) voted in favour of the first collective action in our history – to protect patients from a decade of pharmacy funding cuts.

An overwhelming 99 per cent of our members said they were willing to limit their services in the interests of patient safety if improved funding is not forthcoming. And 63.5% of members in England, Wales and Northern Ireland took part – this represented 3,049 independent community pharmacies in England alone and 3,399 including Wales and Northern Ireland.

Pharmacy owners in England voted:

• 97.8% voted to serve notice on opening hours above the minimum required by their contract – meaning fewer pharmacies will be open in the evenings and at weekends.

• 93.3% voted to withdraw making free home deliveries of medicines which are not funded.

• 96.1% voted to withdraw from locally commissioned services, including some local addiction support services, emergency contraception and stop smoking support.

• 99.2% voted to refuse to co-operate with certain data requests above those required for patient safety and contractual minimums.

• 96.8% voted to withdraw from supplying free monitored dose systems (medicine packs) that the NHS do not pay them to provide, other than those covered by the Disability Discrimination Act.

The NPA urged the government to meet and discuss an urgent uplift for pharmacy funding to guarantee patient safety and services for vulnerable people – alongside a funded expansion of clinical services.

NPA chair Nick Kaye said: “Pharmacies desperately want to support their local communities with access to medicines and advice but have been forced into an untenable position by a decade of underfunding which has led to a record number of closures.

“The ballot result overwhelmingly shows the sheer anger and frustration of pharmacy owners at a decade of cuts that is forcing dedicated health professionals to shut their doors for good.

“We strongly agree with the new government’s ambition to boost community healthcare and hope to meet with them to discuss a new funding deal for pharmacies and modernisation of pharmacies to increase the number of clinical services they deliver, as long as they are properly funded.

“Pharmacies don’t want to reduce services but we will be left with no option but to suggest that pharmacy owners should consider acting on the clear ballot results if the government does not act to protect this vital and much-loved part of our health service.

“Pharmacy owners are not a radical bunch, we have never proposed action like this before, but after a decade of underfunding and record closures, something simply has got to give.”

AT THE TIME OF GOING TO PRINT, THE BALL IS FIRMLY IN THE GOVERNMENT’S COURT. WE NEED THEM TO OFFER A BETTER DEAL FOR COMMUNITY PHARMACY. WE WILL ASSESS THEIR RESPONSE AND ADVISE MEMBERS IN THE NEW YEAR ON OUR RECOMMENDATIONS.

NPA chief executive to head Nursing and Midwifery Council

National Pharmacy Association chief executive, Paul Rees MBE, will be stepping down, to become the interim chief executive and registrar of the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC).

Paul will join the NMC on a one-year contract on 20 January, and will oversee the establishment of a multi-year programme to transform the NMC’s culture and performance, following an independent culture review led by Nazir Afzal OBE which found that people working in the organisation had experienced racism, discrimination and bullying.

The NPA is engaging a leading recruitment agency to help identify its next chief executive to lead the next stage of the NPA’s campaigning and support for members. It hopes to make an appointment in the new year.

NPA chair Nick Kaye said: “I’m enormously grateful to Paul and the brilliant NPA team who are doing so much to raise the profi le of community pharmacy, campaign for a better deal and improve our outstanding support to members.

“Our board and senior team are pressing ahead with our very successful campaigning and our work to transform the support and services we give to pharmacies across the country.”

Paul joined the NPA in November 2023 and – working with board members and other colleagues – has helped to energise the organisation.

Over the last year, the NPA has:

• Helped drive the high-profi le Save Our Pharmacies campaign – which has achieved continuous national media coverage to highlight the chronic underfunding and closure of pharmacies

• Led the fi rst ever two days of national protest across the community pharmacy sector on 20 June and 19 September

• Led the rollout of the Save Our Pharmacies petition, which has amassed more than 350,000 signatures and was presented to Number 10 Downing Street on 19 September

• Introduced new face-to-face events for members in England, including Meet the NPA events and masterclasses, to help members transform the way they run their pharmacies

• Rolled out a values-led approach based on the values of Professionalism, Authenticity, Collaboration, Innovation, Excellence and Respect

• Continued to deliver excellent learning and development, great pharmacy advice and support, and gold standard pharmacy insurance

• Enhanced its membership engagement and increased its membership by 3.5% in terms of organisations to 3,179 entities, and 2.4% in terms of branches to 6,056 contracts.

Paul said: “I’ve totally loved my time working with the brilliant staff and board teams at the National Pharmacy Association.

“Now the foundations of the new, modernised NPA are firmly in place, I know the organisation will continue to grow andthrive."

He added: “It will be a real wrench to leave and it’s been a decision I’ve had to wrestle with. I have been deeply affected by working with the NPA – community pharmacy will always have a special place in my heart, even as I move into another part of the healthcare sector.

“Yet the pull of helping the NMC to eliminate racism and bullying from within the organisation, embed a positive and inclusive culture, and improve the quality of patient care through the regulation of, and support for, the UK’s 826,000 nurses, midwives and nursing associates, is just too great.

“Ensuring the NMC can respond to the shocking fi ndings of the culture review published in the summer by Nazir Afzal and Rise Associates – which highlighted the challenges at the organisation – is an urgent matter for patients, nursing and midwifery professionals, the staff of the NMC, and the nation at large.

“It is because of the scale of the challenge and the need to move with urgency and at pace, that the NMC has asked me to join the team in mid-January.”

Puberty blockers

DHSC has announced an extension to the puberty blockers ban that was set to expire on 26 November 2024 – the temporary ban now ends on 31 December 2024 in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

WORLD AIDS DAY - 1st December

World AIDS Day, designated on 1 December every year since 1988, is an international day dedicated to raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection and mourning those who have died of the disease.

SMALL BUSINESS SATURDAY - 7th December

A grassroots campaign that encourages consumers to ‘shop local’ and support small businesses in their communities.

CROHN’S AND COLITIS AWARENESS WEEK ... 1st - 7th December

Every year, 25,000 people are told they have Crohn’s Disease or Ulcerative Colitis, the two main forms of Infl ammatory Bowel Disease. Crohn’s and Colitis Awareness Week is a chance to share knowledge and experience of what it is like to live with these lifelong conditions.

CERVICAL CANCER AWARENESS WEEK... January 17-23

Cervical Cancer Prevention Week aims to get as many people as possible to know how they can reduce their risk of the disease.

DRY JANUARY

January A campaign which attempts to change conversations about alcohol.

Ask Your Pharmacist Week Thanks for your support!

Thanks to everyone taking part in Ask Your Pharmacist Week (4th-11th November) – the NPA’s annual public awareness campaign highlighting the skills and services provided by pharmacy teams across the UK.

More than 100 patient groups, NHS organisations and other stakeholders engaged with social media to help the NPA promote the “Professional, Convenient Healthcare” our members provide.

Meanwhile, campaign animations ran on pharmacy screens across the country. NPA board members were interviewed on radio and TV and regional newspapers also carried our story.

Pharmacy First roundtable meeting held in Parliament

An expert group convened in Parliament on 20 November to discuss the current operation and future expansion of the NHS Pharmacy First service in England.

The event was organised jointly by the Company Chemists’ Association and the NPA and hosted by Helen Morgan MP. Representatives from community pharmacy, general practice, the NHS, government and patients discussed the benefi ts delivered so far, and how to maximise the service’s impact.

They also considered a roadmap for expanding Pharmacy First by broadening the eligibility of existing conditions, adding further conditions and integrating independent prescribing.

Nick Kaye, chair of the National Pharmacy Association, said: “Pharmacy First can be a game-changing service in terms of delivering the shift to primary care envisaged for the NHS 10 Year Health Plan.

"It is already benefitting patients and the NHS, but we must be ambitious about its scope, scale and accessibility. The quality of clinical care provided through Pharmacy First is fantastic, and it ought to be more straightforward to engage with the service, whether you are a patient, a worried parent, a GP or a pharmacist.

“By bringing a range of stakeholders together at this roundtable event, we are acknowledging that there is work for all of us to do – and that growing Pharmacy First could be a huge win-win for everyone, especially patients.”

‘Superb’ pharmacies were an a erthought during pandemic

Nick Kaye, chair of the National Pharmacy Association, gave evidence to the COVID-19 Inquiry in November. He told the inquiry’s public hearing that pharmacies were often overlooked and underappreciated during the pandemic.

When the pandemic hit the UK in 2020, pharmacies could not initially obtain personal protective equipment from NHS stock, nor get the same access to the vaccine for pharmacy staffthat was provided to other health care professionals.

Pharmacy staffwere also initially excluded from the death-in-service compensation scheme specially created for NHS workers. Kaye called for pharmacies to be “reframed” in the minds of policy makers as “a genuine part of the NHS family”, so that the same mistakes would not be repeated in future crises.

Pointing to the “tragic” closure of pharmacies across the UK over the past decade, he said that “a sustainable and resilient community pharmacy network” is needed to provide a shock absorber for the healthcare system in any future public health crisis.

Having heard Kaye’s evidence, the inquiry’s chair, Baroness Hallett, praised pharmacies for their “superb work” during the pandemic. “I’m sorry you [pharmacies] didn’t get the recognition at the time that you should have done,” she said.

The NPA is a core participant of the inquiry, allowing it to put on record the vital role of community pharmacies during a time of national emergency. You can watch Nick Kaye giving evidence at: www.youtube.com/ watch?v=WiJs00ZpgTU

New NHS Long-Term Plan consultation ongoing

The government’s consultation on a new ‘NHS 10 Year Health Plan’ is underway. A nationwide public engagement exercise will help shape the plan which will be published in spring 2025 and promises three big shifts in healthcare - hospital to community, analogue to digital, and sickness to prevention.

The NPA has submitted a formal response, in which it has developed the following points:

• Ministers are right to want to rebalance resources away from hospitals to primary care and community services. Investing more in local pharmacies would deliver a major return on that investment, at pace.

• Community pharmacies can be a centrepiece of the post-pandemic recovery of the health service – but only if we are fi rst lifted off our knees after years of relentless real terms funding cuts.

• Fixing community pharmacy will allow the nation’s 10,000-plus pharmacy teams to help fix the wider NHS too – dramatically improving access to primary care, preventing ill-health and reducing health inequalities.

• The NPA has a detailed plan to stabilise the community pharmacy network which has been hit by devastating cuts, and to expand pharmacy services, starting this winter and running through to the end of this Parliament and beyond. Meanwhile, we have warned that many community pharmacies will be forced to close without improved funding, before the long-term plan has even been published, in spring 2025!

Whilst the NPA has made a formal submission on behalf of independent pharmacies, if you want to send your thoughts directly to the Government team leading the consultation, you cando so via the online platform change.nhs.uk

The All-New NPA Membership Hub!

We’re thrilled to introduce you to the all-new NPA Membership Hub - your central online destination for everything NPA! Designed with you in mind, the Membership Hub makes it easier than ever to:

• Access NPA support and services tailored to your needs

• Manage your NPA learners quickly and effortlessly

• Register for NPA events and stay updated on the latest opportunities.

This modern, easy-to-use platform replaces previous NPA website features, bringing everything you need into one powerful, streamlined space. Any questions? membershipservices@npa.co.uk

Delivery driver compliance

Did you know that since 1 October, 2020, all pharmacy staff delivering or collecting medicines must complete a GPhC accredited training course within three months of starting their role? Don’t let your team fall behind!

The NPA’s Delivering Medicines Safely & Effectively course provides essential knowledge to ensure patient safety, reduce errors, and enhance customer service for housebound patients. With 15 hours of training, including online tests and real-time assessments, our NPA course ensures your pharmacy team is equipped with the best solution for compliance and competency.

NEW AND POPULAR NPA WEBSITE RESOURCES

• Flu vaccination service hub: including the service SOPs for England (PGD and National Protocol), flu training pathway, vaccine decision-making flowchart, and many more.

• IP Hub: A new independent prescribing (IP) resource is now available on the IP hub - Independent Prescribing Record Keeping guidance and template. This contains guidance on the details pharmacist independent prescribers (PIPs) should be recording during consultations, how long to retain these records and a template for PIPs to complete during consultations.

• New resources for Scottish members: We have updated the flu SOPs and information for Scotland, as well as a new EHC and Bridging SOP following amendments to the service specifications.