Four major organisations representing pharmacy are to take pharmacy's message to the autumn conferences of all three of the main political parties. They aim to give pharmacy a higher profile than ever before at party conferences.
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society, the National Pharmaceutical Association, the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee and the Company Chemists' Association are to mount an exhibition stand at the Labour Party conference and to hold receptions at all three conferences.
At Labour's conference, which runs from September 24 to 28 in Brighton, the pharmacy organisations hope to build on the success of their stand last year, which was visited by health ministers, members of Parliament and representatives of other health professions, among many others. This year's stand will be manned by representatives from the four organisations, with local pharmacists offering advice on medicines and health care.
The aim of the pharmacy receptions is to raise pharmacy's profile with MPs and party activists. The three receptions take place on September 18 in Bournemouth for the Liberal Democrat conference, on September 25 in Brighton for the Labour conference and on October 2 in Bournemouth for the Conservative conference.

The Society's head of professional and scientific support (Mr Roger Odd) with Ms Tessa Jowell (then Minister for Public Health) at last year's Labour Party conference