The Ask Your Pharmacist (AYP) Week, a UK-wide annual public awareness campaign for community pharmacy, kicked off on Monday (3), with a drop-in event for MPs in Westminster.
This year’s theme is ‘Ask Your Pharmacist: NHS services close to home’ and the event will conclude on 10 November.
The campaign provides an annual platform for promotional activities and a prompt for conversations with stakeholders - at local and national level - about the benefits of community pharmacy services.
NPA chief executive, Henry Gregg, said, “The Ask Your Pharmacist campaign aims to complement NHS public awareness initiatives, to further build awareness of the skills and services offered in community pharmacies.
“It is about maximising appropriate use of current NHS and private services and also laying the groundwork for the future development of clinical services in community pharmacy.
“We are encouraging NPA members and all those who support community pharmacy, to take part.”
In a LinkedIn post, the NPA stated that MPs from different parties heard directly from NPA board members about the benefits of pharmacy services and the urgent need for more support from the Government and the NHS.
"We need politicians of all parties to fully understand the value of community pharmacy to their constituents - and consistently back investment in our fantastic, yet under pressure, sector."
