Celebrating World Pharmacists Day 2024

Pharmacy press 

As today marks World Pharmacists Day, an annual awareness day led by the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) – we, at Community Pharmacy England, are celebrating the crucial role pharmacists play in improving access to healthcare, ensuring the responsible use of medicines and so much more.

This year’s theme, ‘Pharmacists: Meeting Global Health Needs,’ highlights the invaluable contributions of pharmacists as essential members of healthcare systems, emphasising their crucial role in addressing health needs within every community.

We shared the below statement with the pharmacy press.

Janet Morrison, Chief Executive of Community Pharmacy England, said:

“On World Pharmacists Day we want to take a moment to thank our community pharmacy colleagues across England for all the work they do for their patients and communities every single day – you are providing a crucial service for the nation.

The past year has been another important one for the sector, with the launch of Pharmacy First really putting the sector on the healthcare policy map and, for the first time, we saw pharmacy mentioned in all the major political party manifestos ahead of a general election. And yet, despite this positivity, we continue to hear heartbreaking stories about the impact of an ever-growing workload and pharmacy owners putting personal finances into their businesses to try and stay open.

We are working to turn things around so that in the years to come we will see the skills of community pharmacists fully utilised to support their ambitions to improve public health and fix the nation’s healthcare problems – but this can only happen if the pharmacy sector is fully valued, supported and funded.”