The Importance of Being Involved

It was recommended to me by the pharmacy that I work for to attend an NPA meeting and after a long day of lectures, I was unsure I would enjoy an evening of even more talks. To my surprise, the event was very interesting. The speakers were excellent and very informative. Even though the talks were aimed at independent pharmacy owners I suddenly understood the importance of being involved.

               The NPA board members gave a presentation on the NHS white paper and the changes that were going to occur over the years and how they are going to affect pharmacies. GP consortia are set to take on a large amount of the NHS budget in order to reduce the amount of money that is potentially wasted. The NPA want to create a ‘voice’ for pharmacists so that they can hopefully become a part of the spending process. Questions were invited from the floor and the fun was only just beginning.

               An explosive debate commenced between members of the NPA and independent pharmacy owners. Generally, the pharmacists were not happy with the amount of paper work that they had to do including MUR’s and they wanted to know what the NPA could do to improve their work load. I’m not entirely sure the discussions had anything to do with the white paper reforms and the future of pharmacy but more a good place for these pharmacists to vent their frustrations!

               In conclusion, there is no way to know how the new NHS system will affect pharmacies right now and I don’t think I shall attempt to own a pharmacy any time soon.