In News

Follow this topic

Bookmark

Record learning outcomes

Numark chairman Harry McQuillan has urged the Government to invest some of the money generated from its reorganisation of the health service and NHS England’s abolition in community pharmacy.

McQuillan (pictured) criticised prime minister Keir Starmer for pledging to reinvest the money in nursing and general practice but failing to back community pharmacy, insisting the sector was again “missing from the conversation”.

“That cannot continue,” he told Independent Community Pharmacist. The reforms, which will see the Department of Health and Social Care and NHSE merge, are expected to take two years and save £500 million.

McQuillan said NHSE has “often struggled to understand community pharmacy’s role in protecting public health” and challenged Labour to ensure the sector is better supported in the coming years.

He used NHSE’s lack of support to develop pharmacists’ prescribing roles and pharmacy technicians’ scope to provide flu vaccinations as examples of its failure to support community pharmacy.

“I’ve been vocal in my frustration with NHSE’s reluctance to recognise the full potential of pharmacy teams, particularly in prescribing,” McQuillan said.

“A recent example was the failure to update the 2024-2025 flu vaccination service specification to allow trained pharmacy technicians to vaccinate when no pharmacist was available. These are missed opportunities that impact patient care. Is this move away from arms-length bodies a good thing? Potentially, yes.

“But only if it results in meaningful engagement with those on the frontline, healthcare professionals who, day in and day out, ensure patients get the care they need.”

Insisting community pharmacy has “for too long been overlooked, underfunded and undervalued”, McQuillan added: “This is a pivotal moment to change that. The Government must seize this opportunity to fully integrate and invest in the sector that has proven time and again its ability to deliver.”