Health Secretary praises community pharmacists at Pharmacy Business Awards

By Priyankur Mandav

COMMUNITY pharmacy is the “front door to the NHS”, health and social care secretary Matt Han­cock said in his remarks at the 20th annual Phar­macy Business Awards last Thursday (21).

In a video message as chief guest at the virtual event, Hancock expressed his support to the sector and added that he was grateful to the role community pharmacies played “in every corner” of the country.

“Especially in these challenging weeks ahead, I want to say thank you,” he said, adding: “as the sec­retary of state, I’m right behind you.”

Hancock praised community pharmacy teams for going above and beyond, to make sure that vital medicines got to those who needed them, and for working “incredibly hard to keep people safe.”

However, he also acknowledged that, “We keep asking a lot of you: first, through the biggest flu vac­cination programme in history, and now with the critical role that you will play in the Covid-19 vac­cines deployment plan. Already, 200 community pharmacies are handling the vaccine. You’re an es­sential partner in this campaign, and also in the way that you can help reach all kinds of people, all differ­ent groups out into the community – encouraging people to take up this vital and life-saving vaccine and persuading them, reassuring them of that need.”

The health secretary reiterated that it was clear to him that community pharmacy was always such a critical part of the NHS family. “And now with this pandemic, I think it has now become clear to eve­ryone,” Hancock added, noting that “you’re the front door to the NHS, you’re the part most em­bedded in our communities.”

Earlier, the executive editor of Pharmacy Business, Shailesh Solanki, said community pharmacy was in urgent need of a funding model that would sustain and fully value the network. He regretted that “words of praise will not pay” the sector’s ever-rising bills.

“The government must act now and match its praise for the sector with funding to end this uncertainty. Only then can community pharmacy fulfil its true potential at the heart of our communities and as an in­tegral part of our great NHS.”

Solanki said the Covid-19 pandemic visibly demon­strated the value of commu­nity pharmacy teams as the only accessible healthcare professionals and proved “they really are the bed­rock of our communities”.

“In this time of national crisis, community phar­macy stood tall with dignity and well-deserved pride,” he added.

However, Solanki warned that the pandemic had changed the environment and landscape for most businesses, including healthcare, and that commu­nity pharmacy would need to change and adapt to new models of care. “Pharmacy can no longer be re­liant on procuring and dispensing medicines alone. The supply and sale of medicines must be wrapped up within a service which adds value to the NHS, the tax-payer and the patient experience,” he said.

In a year of unprecedented changes and unparal­leled challenges, the 20th Pharmacy Business Awards recognised and paid tribute to the work of commu­nity pharmacists and their teams during the corona­virus pandemic. Two pharmaceutical manufacturers were awarded for helping community pharmacies during a difficult year. Pharmacy Business readers voted for the manufacturers who had best supported the independent pharmacy sector over the past year.

The first of these two awards went to GSK, cho­sen as the Pharmacy Business Branded Manufac­turer of 2020, while Teva walked away with the Ge­neric Manufacturer of the Year Award.

The Pharmacy Business Editor’s Award – bestowed upon an ex­ceptional leader who has contributed profoundly to community pharmacy – was this year presented to Professor Rose Marie Parr, former chief pharmaceu­tical officer for Scotland.

An advocate of com­munity pharmacy, Prof Parr started out as a hospi­tal pharmacist before going into education, becoming a senior lecturer at Strath­clyde University.