The changes in government come at a time of significant transformation across health and social care, including the implementation of the NHS 10-Year Health Plan and continued reforms affecting pharmacists across all sectors. The PDA will monitor how the new ministerial team takes forward these plans and will continue to press for frontline pharmacists’ voices to be heard as policies develop.
While ministers and Secretaries of State may change, the PDA’s mission remains constant: ensuring that policy decisions affecting pharmacists are informed by the realities of professional practice and by the best interests of pharmacists and their patients.
Decisions on workforce planning, service design, NHS reform, professional regulation and patient safety directly affect pharmacists and the patients they serve. Those decisions are stronger and better implemented when they are informed by the real-world experience of frontline practitioners.
At a time when policymakers are looking to expand the role of pharmacists and pharmacy teams across the health service, it is essential that pharmacists are not simply expected to deliver change but are actively involved in shaping it. The PDA will continue to use all available routes to champion the views and experiences of its 40,000+ members to inform how decisions are made about the future of pharmacy and wider healthcare services.
Alison Jones, Director of Policy and Communications at the PDA said, “Governments evolve and ministerial portfolios change, but the challenges facing pharmacists and pharmacy services remain. As ambitions continue to grow for pharmacists to deliver more NHS services and take on expanded clinical responsibilities, it is vital that policymakers hear directly from those providing care on the frontline. The PDA will continue to advocate for pharmacists’ perspectives to be represented in discussions on workforce, service expansion, regulation and patient safety, helping to ensure that policy decisions are grounded in professional expertise, practical experience and the realities of delivering safe patient care.”
The PDA will seek to engage with the new ministerial team at the earliest opportunity to ensure that its members’ expertise, experience and concerns are reflected in the policies and reforms that shape the future of healthcare.
Yvette Cooper ©House of Commons
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