With over one-and-a-half million signatures, our petition has shown the Government that the public cares about pharmacy, says NPA chairman Ian Strachan.

With over one-and-a-half million signatures, our petition has shown the Government that the public cares about pharmacy.

On the closing day of the Department of Health (DH) consultation on ‘Community pharmacy in 2016/17 and beyond’, we will be presenting a petition to 10 Downing Street with over 1.5 million signatures. Our petition is the largest currently circulating in the UK and the largest healthcare petition of all time in this country.

Think about that for a moment. It is worth a “wow,” isn’t it?

On top of that, hundreds of thousands of letters and campaign postcards have gone to MPs and people continue to sign the ongoing parliamentary e-petition against the Government’s plans. Pharmacists have been in newspapers, on radio and TV, and across social media. Patients have taken part in protest rallies. MPs have debated the matter in parliament and the Prime Minister has been forced to comment on the matter at Prime Minister’s Questions – albeit his remarks were thoroughly unsatisfactory.

Behind the scenes, the national pharmacy bodies, including the NPA, have met on numerous occasions with officials to try to find common ground for a positive way forward. Formal written submissions have been presented to NHS England and the DH by a number of stakeholders.

When the dust finally settles after this whirlwind of activity, how will we know if it has all been worth it? What does success look like? Should a less drastic cut to the global sum than the figure initially announced satisfy us, and a revised timetable for implementation? What about a commitment from NHS England to get behind repeat dispensing and restart talks about a national minor ailments scheme or the other schemes recently put forward by PSNC?

Frame of reference needs to shift

I think we can only be fully satisfied when the entire frame of reference for thinking about the future of local pharmacies has shifted – in all parts of the UK. Officials must acknowledge the importance of building services on supply, rather than splitting one from the other. They have to start talking about community pharmacy as a solution, not as a problem. Above all, we have to be convinced that government recognises pharmacies as a valuable community resource, not merely a distribution point for product.

In the long-term, success is not just about being able to struggle through the current difficult situation with a view to coming out the other end unchanged; it is about adapting, improving and fulfilling the potential of the sector.

Come what may, I think we can already celebrate a significant tactical success. We have proved to politicians and officials that we are capable of standing up for ourselves and that the people of this country care about us and stand with us. If the Government seeks to ignore us, this will not be the end of the campaign. With the support of so many patients who have signed the petition,