The current and former health secretaries yesterday (October 7) took shots at each other over pharmacy during a debate in the House of Commons.
Debating Lord Darzi’s independent investigation into the NHS, Streeting asked the house to “never forgive [and] never forget” the “the damage the Tories had…done” to the NHS.
Read more: Streeting slams NPA ‘sabre-rattling’ over collective action
But shadow health secretary Victoria Atkins said that “some of the suggestions” made by Streeting were “not accurate” adding that she would “pull him up”.
“For example, he has not mentioned the introduction of Pharmacy First,” she said.
Streeting replied by asking: “The right honourable Lady mentions Pharmacy First – how many pharmacies went bust on her watch?”
“A density of pharmacies”
Atkins said that “in London and other urban areas, there is a density of pharmacies” and “the average person in England is within walking distance of their pharmacy”.
She stressed that Streeting would have “got exactly the same briefing [she] used to get when [she] was in his shoes”.
“He supported Pharmacy First when I introduced it, so I am a little surprised that he appears to be casting doubt on it,” she added.
Read more: Exclusive: Pharmacy Minister Stephen Kinnock: ‘I want to unlock your potential’
In August, the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) warned that the number of pharmacies in England could soon fall below 10,000 for the first time since 2005.
And last month, the NPA revealed plans to ballot its members for the very first time on work to rule action, which could see “a lot” of pharmacies shutting on Saturdays by the end of the year.
It came as the body launched its second day of protest action, which continued its message “that the pharmacy funding model is broken, closures are unacceptable, [and] the workforce crisis is hitting community pharmacies and their patients”.
Read more: Landmark state of the NHS report touts ‘huge potential’ of pharmacists
At the time, Streeting criticised the NPA for “an unhelpful degree of sabre-rattling and threats of collective action” at a Labour Party conference session.
Meanwhile last week in an exclusive article for C+D, Pharmacy Minister Stephen Kinnock lamented “fourteen years of neglect and incompetence on the part of consecutive Conservative administrations have left our NHS broken and the pharmacy sector in a fragile state, with thousands having been forced to close over the past decade”.
