Health Secretary speaks at Conservative Party Conference

We have issued the following statement in response to a speech by Steve Barclay, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, at this week’s Conservative Party Conference.

Our Chief Executive, Janet Morrison, said:

“This year, once again, Cabinet Conference speeches are very much focused on the crisis in secondary care: but Ministers would do well to remember that primary care also needs their attention. Left unchecked, the current crisis in community pharmacy will have a catastrophic impact on patients and the wider NHS. We have been warning the Government at Conference this week about this, and telling them about both the critical work pharmacies already do, and about just how much investment in pharmacies is needed and would make a positive difference across the health service.

Our Conference event this year was attended by three influential Conservative MPs, as well as Councillors, charities and patient representatives, and the support for pharmacy was palpable – everybody round the room was championing the critical work that community pharmacies are doing and backed the recently published vision for the sector. This support has been echoed by Ministers speaking at fringe events. Urgent work will continue at the upcoming Labour Conference and beyond to turn this widespread support into action and financial support.”