Prime Minister touts creation of ‘smokefree generation’ in party conference speech

We have issued the following statement in response to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s speech at the Conservative Party Conference, particularly noting his plans to increase the smoking age and restrict the use of vapes.

Our Chief Executive, Janet Morrison, said:

“It was encouraging to hear the Prime Minister talk about the value of pharmacies to their local communities at the Conservative Party Conference this week. This resonates with Government health policy turning towards prevention in recent times.

Mr Sunak’s public health pledge to create a ‘smokefree generation’ is a bold ambition. For this to truly take hold, the Government must also increase the support available to help people stop smoking and make that support easily accessible in places like community pharmacies. The recently published vision for community pharmacy recommends widening the scope of the NHS Smoking Cessation Service to cover all smokers – rather than just those referred by NHS Trusts – as well as users of vapes. This is envisioned as part of a package of public health services helping position pharmacies as local health and wellbeing hubs.

But this development of pharmacy must be backed up by sustainable funding. Whilst the Prime Minister is always keen to tell people his is the party of small business, he must recognise that for those community-based businesses like pharmacies cashflow is precarious right now.”