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Why do our many pharmacies remind me of Monty Python's Life of Brian?

For those of you who don't know the film, Brian joins the People's Front of Judea (or was it the Judean People's Front?) €“ one of many fractious and bickering independence movements that spent more time fighting each other than the Romans. Now, why does that remind me of pharmacy?

In an election year, when the NHS is going to be one of the key battlegrounds for all of the political parties in May, pharmacy has to portray a strong and consistent message about the role it can €“ and does €“ play in the health of the nation. One thing you can guarantee about the medical profession is that it won't be quiet come election time.

The BMA provides a strong, united voice for its members, crucially differentiating between all grades and types of doctors. Looking at our various leadership organisations €“ RPS, Pharmacy Voice, NPA, CCA, AIMp, PSNC, IPF, LPCs and the like €“ I can't say that our leadership is powerful, united or unequivocal. Personally I would like to see all these bodies merge to provide us with one organisation capable of putting pharmacy on the map.

 I would like to see all these bodies merge.

Such a statement, I am sure, would have everyone at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society jumping up and down, saying that it is the only representative organisation the profession truly needs. Sorry RPS; the fact is that you lack relevance to the sector as a whole and especially the biggest group within it €“ community pharmacy.

If you need proof of this, read 'Now More Than Ever', which I felt was almost condescending about community pharmacy, a fact that won't be lost on the many community pharmacists who are no longer members of the Society (not that Lambeth publishes many details about its membership statistics). So in pharmacy we are left with our own versions of the People's Front of Judea and myriad other variants on a theme, each claiming their own separate and unique raison d'être. It would be funny if it wasn't for the fact that community pharmacy has so much to be proud of and such an important story to tell.

Simon says...

New(ish) NHS chief executive Simon Stevens says he is trying to take politics out of running the NHS. His 'Five Year Forward View' is an attempt to give some direction to the organisation.

The vision does have some good principles relevant to community pharmacy:

€¢ Prevention: public health, as we know, is a major strength of community pharmacy

€¢ Efficiency: pharmacy has long been one of the most efficient areas of the NHS

€¢ Quality: probably the biggest area of potential improvement for pharmacy, but it is difficult to see real progress being made without at least some new money being made available.

By the way, in an election year, I will probably be the only person in the country calling for some hospitals to be shut. I know it's not a popular view but there is some logic behind what I say. Hospitals are too expensive and too dangerous €“ and Simon Stevens knows it. His vision suggests smaller hospitals with greater capability, which makes sense to me.

Wish list

So what would be on pharmacy's wish list for the various parties' election manifestos? How about access to patient records? That is virtually a given nowadays €“ the argument has largely been won that pharmacists need access to patients' summary care and eventually full care records. But progress needs to be accelerated. A national common ailments service? Again, with this year's winter pressures on the NHS being particularly acute, it would be difficult for a Government of any colour to deny a commonsense measure that would help to divert some people away from A&E and GP surgeries.

Then there's pharmacy flu vaccination services. Pharmacy London has done us all a favour with this one, having jabbed more than 100,000 people this flu season. In other areas of the country patients are actively wanting to overturn the old GPled system because this is no longer the best way of delivering the service. I think it is only a matter of time before we see pharmacy vaccination services on an equal footing with those from GPs. So what's left on the wish list? The Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) has been highly successful in general practice, so a similar system, or at least the infrastructure for one, should be high on the agenda.

Unfortunately we already have numerous manifestos/visions/ strategies for pharmacy. It may be that neither the Judean Pharmacy Front nor the Pharmacy Front of Judea is the Messiah (to kind of quote the Pythons again)... but it is time we had a grown-up conversation about the type of leadership we want in the profession.