Key Summary
- The House of Lords hosted an event to celebrate the contribution of women in pharmacy.
- Dozens of women pharmacy leaders, including those from the National Pharmacy Association, attended the event.
- Baroness Redfern, NPA vice chair Sukhi Basra and Taiwo Owatemi, who is currently the only female pharmacist in the House of Commons, also spoke during the event.
Health minister Preet Kaur Gill has praised women pharmacists for being the “lifeblood” of the community pharmacy workforce and called out the problem of aggression towards pharmacy staff by some patients.
While addressing an event at the House of Lords on Tuesday (9) to celebrate the contribution of women in pharmacy, she said the recent financial uplifts in the England pharmacy contract do “not constitute a silver bullet” to the sector’s challenges, but insisted that “we are laying the foundations for an historic shift from hospital to community”.
The minister also highlighted the progress in improving access to the morning-after pill and the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine.
In April, following representations by the NPA and others, the government announced that pharmacies will be commissioned to provide catch-up HPV vaccinations as part of the Women's Health Strategy.
Dozens of women pharmacy leaders, including those from the National Pharmacy Association (NPA), attended the event.
Baroness Redfern, NPA vice chair Sukhi Basra and Taiwo Owatemi MP, who is currently the only female pharmacist in the House of Commons, also spoke during the event.
Talking after the event, Basra said, “We gathered to celebrate the contribution of women in pharmacy, but also to give a boost to female pharmacy leadership in the sector, by bringing people together to learn from one another and establish networks of mutual support.
“I had the opportunity to tell my own story about becoming a pharmacist and my journey to becoming vice chair of the National Pharmacy Association - standing on the shoulders of wonderful women who have served in leadership positions before at the NPA and elsewhere.”
Approximately 60 percent of pharmacists and 85 percent of pharmacy technicians are women.
