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Letters to the Editor
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Community pharmacy
It’s time to get political!
From Mr O. Picard, MRPharmS
Readers of the PJ will recall that there have been various articles
over the years encouraging pharmacists to speak up and lobby our local
MPs.
So, aggrieved about Category M clawbacks, scrapping of enhanced services by
primary care trusts, 100-hour exemptions popping up everywhere and the general
state of community pharmacy today, I finally decided to heed PJ’s advice
and invited my local MP, Theresa May, to visit me at my pharmacy to discuss
these issues.
While well informed about the basics of community pharmacy, what struck me
most from our conversation was that she had no idea that these things were
going on and seemed astonished that implementation of the enhanced services
under the new pharmacy contract was so far from complete. I hope Mrs May has
gone away with a much better understanding of the important role we pharmacists
are playing and are capable of playing in the future of primary healthcare,
as well as the everyday frustrations we face.
This meeting made me realise that she is probably not the only MP who does
not know what is happening to our profession.
So, I urge my fellow pharmacists to talk to their local members of Parliament.
After all, if we do not tell them what it is we want, then they can hardly
be expected to know.
Politicians are supposed to work for us, so let us make sure they actually
do.
Olivier Picard
High Wycombe,
Buckinghamshire |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal