Ian Strachan: If the IPA had been consulted, we'd have advised the NPA to call off its ballot

If I had been given the chance to respond to the direct remarks by Mr Rees on the Pharmacy Show panel about unity and his unfulfilled wish to meet with the IPA, I would have asked why he resorts to media, panels and WhatsApp groups to ask...

'The important element here is that all pharmacy bodies are advocating for a better funding deal and that message is heard by the public and decision makers loud and clear'

The past six years for our sector has been the worst in my professional lifetime.

The squeeze to our funding, cash pressures and the realisation this was now a systemic problem to our survival has hit home with a vengeance.

A six year period between 2018 and 2024 where politics was allowed to overshadow policy.

Wasted years in which the slogan of unity and collaboration was misused and continues to be misused by some to justify poor and ineffective policies to shut down those who do not agree with their approach.

This was a topic of debate at the keynote leadership panel which kicked off this year’s Pharmacy Show.

As someone who has been in the sphere of representation for many years, I was asked by the IPA to be on this panel. But it was assisted somewhat by the referee’s whistle, you might say, which denied me and the IPA the chance to respond to the direct remark by NPA CEO Paul Rees and his perceptions of sector unity.

After all, you don’t blow the whistle when someone is about to take a corner unless you are biased.

Read More: C+D Snap Poll: 85% in favour of community pharmacy collective action

I am a pharmacy owner, and during my career I have been on the boards of enough organisations to know what works and what doesn’t.

Between 2015 and 2017 we led a monumental campaign against pharmacy cuts that rallied this sector. A moment united behind a common cause to defend and protect contractor’s future, their priorities and their needs. A campaign which was led with a genuine conviction to that cause.

We were alert to the fact that when our sector is serving to influence its members’ business models we must stay true to their future. After all, we are elected to serve those interests, not the other way around.

You see, the biggest failing of health policy the past 30 years has been its resistance to invest in primary and community care.

It may come to nothing, but at a time the current government are publicly on record to invest in primary care, to bring providers of care closer to the communities they serve and to improve productivity within the wider NHS, then all this does sound an agenda which is 100% aligned to the credentials of community pharmacy.

Read More: Exclusive: Pharmacy Minister Stephen Kinnock: ‘I want to unlock your potential’

This is our moment to put community pharmacy on the map. The IPA’s strategy is to engage with politicians, fellow professionals in primary care and stakeholders, to highlight the capabilities of our network and the solutions we can offer if invested in. Anything which threatens that outcome short term and long term is more important than an individual organisation’s profile or personal agendas.

And with that, I am referring to the NPA ballot which the IPA was never consulted on.

Read more: ‘Enough is enough’: Whistles and crisis at #SaveOurPharmacies protest

The first we all heard of it was the story from the BBC requesting comments to an embargoed NPA press release a few hours before it was due to be published.

If we had been consulted we would have strongly rebuked the claims this was the right course of action and advised the NPA to call off its call for a ballot. Timing is everything here.

As we saw in the letter from Wes Streeting to C&D, the Secretary of State slammed the NPA action as “sabre-rattling” but strangely the CEO of the NPA Paul Rees is recently quoted in Pharmacy Magazine (CIG) saying the opposite, that “Labour are incredibly warm about work-to-rule and wider pressure campaign”.

Read more: Streeting slams NPA ‘sabre-rattling’ over collective action

There are many other examples that I can give where unfortunately the credibility of this sector is being put at risk through a street sales approach to representation rather than a strategic and reasoned approach.

Credibility, trust and professionalism are some of hallmarks that we pride ourselves in this profession. We must protect this.

Without credibility you have no leg to stand on and with that in mind I do not blame those who distance themselves completely from what is undermining our credibility.

Read More: The pursuit of harmony - can CPE find it?

The NPA petition presented to Downing Street along with the other pharmacy bodies highlighted the absence of IPA, and for good reason.

Let’s look at it from a strategic perspective. That petition achieved a mere 350,000 signatures. Small beer in comparison to the 1.6M people who walk through our doors daily and the 2.5M signatures the sector achieved in 2016. Why would anyone boast about a step backwards?

Read More: NPA chair: Turn your attention to cuts e-petition

Instead of becoming a resounding endorsement for our sector we feel the officials will take this low number as a morale victory.

To continue with this red herring of unity and collaboration, as a member of the IPA board I am aware that on many occasions IPA have reached out to NPA to work with us across many fronts, going all the way back to 2020 and the pandemic, but as you can guess there was no response.

Take #Fight4pharmacies campaign for example, a successful Westminster call to action to MPs launched in March this year which achieved a high level of publicity. You would have thought the NPA would have got behind that campaign to keep the momentum going rather than duplicate it.

Read more: IPA joins forces with primary care orgs to demand health sec meeting

The important element here is that all pharmacy bodies are advocating for a better funding deal and that message is heard by the public and decision makers loud and clear. Any other negative headlines to draw attention away from that, by misusing the word unity, are purely a personal agenda and distraction from our cause.

If I had been given the chance to respond to the direct remarks by Mr Rees on the Pharmacy Show Leader’s panel about unity and his unfulfilled wish to meet with the IPA, I would have asked Mr Rees why he resorts to media, panels and WhatsApp groups to ask to meet with the IPA.

Read more: IPA delivers ‘prescription’ to save the sector to Number 10

If you do not have any agendas to attack an organisation or to try and put respected peers in a bad light, then pick up the phone and call the IPA CEO, or write them an email and invite them to meet. Remember, unity and collaboration are not policies, they are the outcomes of the right leadership and the consequences of doing the right things.

Ian Strachan is writing in his capacity as a pharmacy owner and contractor. He is also an IPA board member, and former NPA chairman.

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