In these uncertain times, NPA chairman Ian Strachan has this message for pharmacy teams

This is a near repeat of a column published in TM a year ago. Little did I know then how poignant it would still be now.

Back then, I had emailed NPA members to encourage them to reflect with pride on just how much good community pharmacy does for patients and communities. Shortly afterwards, the Government in Westminster announced its cuts agenda, and it has shown repeatedly since then that it does not value the sector as it should.  

In fact, the pharmacy ‘day job’ is absolutely central to the health of the nation and is rather remarkable. 

I want to make that same basic point again: working in a community pharmacy, you are part of something special and your own role is very important and valuable. The sector deserves praise for the day-to-day work of safely supplying medicines, giving advice to millions of people and being a social and business asset at the heart of communities. An extensively distributed community pharmacy network matters, because it provides: 

• Private investment into the healthcare estate
• A stabilising asset to the community
• Convenient local access to NHS services as well as self care
• An unrivalled opportunity for health improvement interventions on a massive scale.

It is also the one part of the health service that bucks the inverse care law – being accessible to people in poor and under-doctored areas as well as wealthier neighbourhoods, and it’s a setting for face-to-face healthcare advice without an appointment. Our interventions divert people from unnecessary and more expensive care elsewhere in the system, including general practice and secondary care. And last and absolutely not least, community pharmacy is a convenient and cost-effective route for medicines supply.  

At the end of today, see if you can find five minutes to reflect on just how much you do for patients, communities and the NHS. Just this week alone, how many people are in less pain because of your pharmacy? How many people have been treated for common ailments? How many people are in a better position to manage long-term conditions because of advice provided at your pharmacy? How many kids are at school today who might not have been without your pharmacy’s intervention? How many unnecessary GP and hospital appointments have been avoided?  

I urge you to be proud of your role and be confident to speak up about the benefits you and your pharmacy deliver.