‘Fantastic’ pharmacists hailed on Bestway visit

PRIME MINISTER Rishi Sunak thanked pharmacists for providing “fantastic healthcare” as he visited a healthcare service depot on Monday (1).

Just two days before the general election on Thursday (4), Sunak visited Bestway Healthcare Service Centre (HSC) depot in Stoke-on-Trent. He was accompanied by Bestway’s chief executive, Lord Zameer Choudrey, and the group’s chief finance officer, Haider Choudrey.

During the site tour, Sunak engaged with the staff and participated in a Q&A session.

Asked about funding plans for pharmacy, he reflected on his personal connection to community pharmacy, revealing that he grew up in a family of pharmacists and spent much of his youth helping the family with prescription deliveries.

He noted the expansion of the Pharmacy First programme, which aims to improve access to healthcare through community pharmacies.

“You might have heard over the past few years that my mum was a pharmacist, so you can feel I’m very much at home being with all of you here this morning,” Sunak said.

“Now, I know firsthand what an incredible job pharmacies do. You have my enormous gratitude and admiration for everything you do to support in providing fantastic healthcare. We’re backing you to do even more with the Pharmacy First programme.”

The new service, which was rolled out in January, enables community pharmacists to manage patients for seven common conditions without GP referral.

“If you have a sore throat or an ear infection, you don’t have to see your GP. You can go straight to your pharmacist and get the consultations that you need as quickly as you need them.

“That difference to billions of people is only possible because of everything that you are doing. So, a massive thank you to all of you for that,” said Sunak.

In an exclusive interview with Eastern Eye last week, the prime minister emphasised the need to gradually increase investment in out-of-hospital services.

Sunak also reiterated his party’s commitment to expanding the Pharmacy First service, which is expected to free up an additional 10 million GP appointments.

During his visit to the HSC depot, Sunak saw the outcomes of investment by the Bestway Group into the multi-channel site, which serves 760 Well Pharmacies and more than 5,000 independent pharmacies daily. The HSC depot also houses an online digital pharmacy, an online over-the-counter (OTC) shop, a centralised script fulfilment centre, and holds approximately 10 million packs of medicine in stock.

Sunak said he was impressed by the levels of automation and innovation that make it such a successful operating model.