Keir Starmer spoke about the role of community pharmacies during Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) on Wednesday (October 9).
He reiterated that the government will “expand the role of community pharmacies” and “accelerate the rollout of independent prescribers.”
“We need much more care to be delivered in local communities so that problems can be spotted earlier,” Starmer said, adding that the Chancellor “will have much more to say about that in the budget” later this month.
Read more: Labour promises ‘community pharmacist prescribing service’
Responding to a question about access to GP services from Labour MP for West Bromwich Sarah Coombes, the Prime Minister remarked that “the most visible sign of failure of the last government was the NHS”.
This statement comes after the Labour Party pledged to grant “more pharmacists independent prescribing rights where clinically appropriate” in its June manifesto.
The manifesto also promised to “shift resources to primary care and community services” but did not explicitly promise any additional funding for community pharmacy.
“Very pleased”
The National Pharmacy Association (NPA) praised Starmer’s comment at yesterday’s PMQs and his commitment to “the expansion of the role of community pharmacy.”
But it also stressed the frequency at which pharmacies across the country have been closing in recent times and reiterated calls for an urgent cash injection for the sector.
“It is only with additional funding and an end to pharmacy closures that pharmacies can fulfil their full potential,” NPA chief executive Paul Rees said.
Read more: ‘Enough is enough’: Whistles and crisis at #SaveOurPharmacies protest
Community Pharmacy England (CPE) chief executive Janet Morrison said that she was “very pleased to hear” the Prime Minister’s positive comments about community pharmacies.
“We agree with him that community pharmacies hold the answer to improving access to wider primary care… [but] this can only happen if community pharmacies themselves are put on an economically sustainable footing,” she added.
And pharmacist and newly elected Labour MP for North Somerset Sadik Al-Hassanposted on X (formerly Twitter) that it was “great to hear…Keir Starmer talking about pharmacy as a solution to some of the problems faced in improving the health of the nation”.
Read more: NPA to deliver #saveourpharmacies petition to new PM Keir Starmer
Just last month, the NPA delivered a petition to Starmer to demand “immediate, fair and sustained funding to safeguard NHS pharmacy services and ensure local pharmacies have a future”.
The petition was created to increase pressure on the government - “to ensure local pharmacies have a future” - and received over 300,000 signatures.
