Pharmacy’s role backed at Liberal Democrat Conference event

Policy discussion backs pharmacy’s leading role in providing community-based care at a party conference event organised by Community Pharmacy England.

As part of important work building relationships with politicians and health policy influencers, representatives from Community Pharmacy England are attending the Liberal Democrat Party Conference. This continues our influencing programme to shape better outcomes for community pharmacy.

Community Pharmacy England Fringe Event

We partnered with the think tank Re:State to hold a roundtable event on ‘The future of the NHS: strengthening care close to home’.

We were delighted that Helen Morgan MP, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Health and Social Care, chaired the roundtable of politicians and policy group representatives.

The event explored how we can shape a future-fit health service and shift to a community centric model. Guests were broadly supportive of the ambition behind the Government’s 10 Year Health Plan, but were in agreement that there remained much work to be done to restore the NHS.

Attendees from Nuffield Trust, primary care professions, patient groups and charities including Diabetes UK, Asthma & Lung UK, and Cancer Research UK heard about the pressures facing community pharmacies, and the potential for the sector do contribute even more to patient care in line with the 10 Year Health Plan.

Discussion included the current crisis in many primary care functions and how to meet the growing demands for services from an ageing population. It also touched on the challenges of balancing localism with the importance of national standards, the complexity behind the new Neighbourhood Hubs, and some of the risks associated with digitisation of healthcare.

Other conference engagement

Outside of the roundtable event, the team has also been attending fringe events and engaging with Liberal Democrat MPs, party policy advisors, and other key stakeholders. Our primary focus has been to ensure that they fully understand both the potential of the community pharmacy sector and the significant strain that it is still under.

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

“The Liberal Democrats have long been advocates for community pharmacy and it has been great to reconnect with them and other policy influencers to discuss the current opportunities and challenges for the sector. This is critical as we continue work to secure a sustainable future for community pharmacy.

I hope that we see the same high level of interest in community pharmacy during our events at the upcoming Conferences.”