APPG inquiry appeals to pharmacists for evidence
Ordinary pharmacists have been encouraged to tell the All-Party Pharmacy Group what they think the future of pharmacy should hold.
Outlining the direction of the group’s inquiry into the future
of pharmacy, group chairman Howard Stoate (Lab, Dartford) said this week: “We
really want to hear from workaday pharmacists about what are the difficulties,
what the challenges are and whether they’ve got any great ideas
that nobody is listening to.” Nobody should be put off by the questionnaire that
is being used as a starting point for the inquiry, Dr Stoate added. The
group wants to hear from pharmacists even if they only want to answer
one question.
Dr Stoate said that the aim is to encourage more thinking about the development
of pharmacy services. “We don’t want just to hear about some
of the problems, we want to hear about solutions as well,” he said. “We
aim to challenge policymakers and the profession to increase the rate
of development and to think radically about those developments.”
To do this, the group wants to get evidence from a broad range of stakeholders,
such as patients, the nursing and medical professions, the Department
of Health, primary care trusts, health trusts, think-tanks and Parliamentary
colleagues, as well as pharmacists.
However, Dr Stoate emphasised that the group did not exist to do the
profession’s bidding. “We are here for the good of pharmacy,
for the good of patients and for the good of health care. We are not
just going to act as a mouthpiece for the profession. This is very much
aimed to challenge people, including the Government and including pharmacists.”
He added: “I think the Government is keen to engage. We all know
the health service has got problems and I think they want pharmacy to
be a bigger part of the solution.” Sandra Gidley (LibDem, Romsey),
the group’s treasurer and a pharmacist, said: “The opportunities
provided by the pharmacy contract [in England] have not been realised.
It is difficult to tell whether that is because of the lack of ambition
from the profession or because there are barriers.”
A wide range of groups will be invited to give evidence to the inquiry
and DoH officials will be invited to the evidence sessions to hear what
is being said. The focus of inquiry will be on the future of pharmacy
in England, but the group wants to hear from pharmacists in Scotland
and Wales about what is being done there. “We also want to invite
pharmacists and pharmacy officials from Scotland, because they do things
very differently,” said Mrs Gidley. “Some of the early feedback
we’ve had is that their contract is easier and has promoted change
faster.” |
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