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2/14/2012
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IPF may join up with Pharmacy Voice, ex-MP tells Sigma Conference in Thailand
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Claire Ward, the IPF chief executive.
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The independent Pharmacy Federation is in ongoing discussions with Pharmacy Voice about a merger between the two organisations, Claire Ward, the IPF chief executive has revealed at the Sigma Conference in Phuket, Thailand.
Ward, the former Labour MP for Watford who joined the IPF last June, suggested that the body remains focused on helping independent pharmacists as “the exclusive body for independents,” but insisted it would not rule out joining Pharmacy Voice. Indeed, the IPF could become the fourth arm of Pharmacy Voice, which is made up of the NPA, CCA and AIMp.
“We are not formally a part of Pharmacy Voice but that doesn’t mean we’re not going to be a part of Pharmacy Voice. We have started those discussions,” she said. “We’re not saying we won’t (join them) in future. Those discussions are ongoing but there are things we need to do as an organisation before we take any further steps.”
Day Lewis chief executive Kirit Patel told Pharmacy Business in a recent interview that the IPF would struggle to make an impact if it continued to go it alone and refuse collaboration with the likes of the National Pharmacy Association.
Ward also challenged independent pharmacy to make a stand against issues such as funding, urging the profession to make more noise, as well as be proactive, in order to force change. “The pharmacy sector needs to have a lot more about it,” she said.
“The GPs wouldn’t put up with a lot of what pharmacy puts up with. You’re too shy and too quiet about what’s going on.”
Fin McCaul, chairman of the IPF, insisted that criticism of the PSNC, in its role as pharmacy’s contract negotiator with the Department of Health, should be kept in check and pharmacy should instead seek to find ways of working with the body.
“I think we need to be careful about trying to re-organise the PSNC,” he said. “We need to be smart and align ourselves with PSNC reps and play that support role but bounce ideas off them. Rather than go and try and get 15 seats on PSNC, we need to work with that structure.” Hemant Patel, the north east London LPC secretary, told Pharmacy Business that “grassroots pharmacy” is consistently neglected by the PSNC in its negotiations with the government over funding.
McCaul also expressed his concerns over the role of the NPA. Last year its chief executive Michael Holden said the body needs to regain some of the confidence its members have lost. “Five, 10 years ago the NPA lost their way,” McCaul said. “I would personally hate to see the loss of the NPA because they play a vital role.”
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