Community pharmacy owners are being asked to share information on the pressures on their businesses, as well as their key messages for the new Government, ahead of the next full Community Pharmacy England Committee meeting at the end of June.
A key focus of this committee meeting will be the General Election campaign and plans to influence the next Government. With community pharmacies in deep distress, it is vital that future MPs and potential Ministers are warned about the risks of failing to support the sector, both for the NHS and their constituents. We will be working to strengthen supporters in the new Parliament, urging them to ease the pressures that pharmacies are facing by introducing a long-term sustainable funding model and more, as described in our Four-Point Plan for Community Pharmacy and the joint #VotePharmacy Manifesto.
In June, Committee Members will discuss how Community Pharmacy England can best engage with Government post-election, reviewing our policy and political positioning for the potential scenarios that may unfold after 4th July. This will include progressing plans to influence the next Government Spending Review.
For this meeting, we are keen to hear the message you would like us to give the new Government, following the General Election, and the things that your pharmacy business has had to stop doing due to the ongoing pressures. We are also continuing to track the intensity of various financial pressures on your pharmacies.
You can directly input into the Committee’s discussions via this short poll:
June 2024 Committee Opinion Poll (for independents and non-CCA multiples only)
View a copy of the poll questions
The survey will close at 11.59pm on Sunday 16th June to allow time for our Committee to review all the feedback ahead of their meeting. Note, this survey is for community pharmacy owners only and CCA multiple branches do not need to respond as the survey is being sent to their head offices.
As well as being discussed at June’s Committee Meeting, the results of these polls and the outcomes of the meeting will be reported back to the sector afterwards. Beyond this, your answers will be used to feed into our ongoing work to press for an uplift to core funding, adding to our evidence base of what pharmacy owners are experiencing. Alongside our Pharmacy Advice Audit, this survey will increase the amount of data we have for use in our campaigning and influencing work.
Seeking your input more often is part of wider changes in how we work and influence on your behalf. We’re working to build stronger relationships with pharmacy owners by improving how we engage with the sector and listening to pharmacy’s views better.
We hope that as many of you as possible will share your thoughts with us ahead of our upcoming meeting – this is your chance to feed directly into the Committee.
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