By Jeremy Meader
For a long time, I’ve often wondered what the Minister for Pharmacy must think when they get appointed.
After settling into the job, one of the first things that must jump out is the number of different bodies that represent pharmacies across the UK.
There is the NPA, CCA, IPA and the IPCN, all of whom demand the time of the minister - presently Stephen Kinnock MP.
Imagine being the newly-appointed Minister for Pharmacy and being handed your diary for the first few weeks, seeing pages of multiple organisations all wanting to press home their agenda.
Their diary must read like: 9AM meeting with the NPA to discuss pharmacy matters, 10AM meeting with the CCA to discuss pharmacy matters, 11:30AM sit down with the IPA before rounding out the day with a fourth, yes FOURTH pharmacy body in the IPCN.
Four separate meetings with four separate organisations surely dilutes the message of all - and by extension our entire industry.
Just look at how doctors operate with the BMA being the direct line for all concerns. A single, united front representing their desire to Health Secretary West Streeting - not four squabbling entities looking to self-serve rather than operate as one.
Of course, as we’ve witnessed in the last decade, it’s quite rare that a Minister for Pharmacy manages to celebrate their anniversary in the post - there have been 13 in 10 years.
Do people really expect someone new to get to grips with everything and enact meaningful change with all these bodies in less than a year? It’s a fool’s errand.
Nobody can seriously believe there is a requirement for four separate governing bodies to try and ensure pharmacy is getting optimum output from the Government.
All of us who work in pharmacy do so because we care about people - our patients - and want to ensure they get the best possible outcome from Government funding.
But with so many contradictions between these four associations, how can we hope to remotely get close to offering the service we want to provide?
It now seems clear to so many that pharmacy has become a ‘too many cooks’ scenario and many organisations are unwilling to step out and opt for someone else to be the head chef.
Instead of having four main bodies, we should have one coherent organisation that represents the entire view of pharmacy in the UK.
It must be an elected body that offers clear and concise information to members and isn’t afraid to be direct with the Minister for Pharmacy and their department. Oh, but of course, we have Community Pharmacy England, the body that negotiates with the Department of Health.
A body that has just announced that it is amending its structure to allow each representative group to have a broadly proportionate share of seats, reflecting sector ownership.
Just imagine if Community Pharmacy England, could represent Pharmacy in the same way the BMA represents doctors!
Pharmacy must align its interests to ensure CPE negotiations with the Department of Health get the best outcome for those who matter most - our patients. The new composition reflecting the changing ownership trend is welcome, but I can’t help thinking could go further still.
Perhaps it’s time to allow non pharmacists to be representatives, it does seem a major missed opportunity not to have some representatives who perhaps have broader commercial skills and particularly commercial negotiation skills.
How on earth can we hope to get the best deal possible from the Government if there are limited board members with those skills, consultants whilst valuable are expensive, as the latest CPE accounts demonstrate.
It feels beyond time that a common manifesto was brought in for all of pharmacy to pledge their support to - a BMA equivalent for the Pharmacy sector.
This single authoritative voice could then lead from the front with negotiators in tow while engaging behind the scenes with each body allowing for a fully united front when it comes to sitting down with the Government and discussing the future of pharmacy.
If this could be agreed upon, pharmacy would have a greater chance of moving from strength to strength over the next decade, of playing a leading role in delivering against the NHS 10-year plan, regardless of how many Ministers for Pharmacy we see come and go.
Jeremy Meader is the Chief Wholesale Officer of Bestway Healthcare, overseeing brands such as Lexon, Wardles, and Bestway Medhub. Jeremy has over 25 years of experience in the UK pharmaceutical sector, and has worked in executive roles across the industry.
