Community pharmacist Sadik Al-Hassan elected as MP

Community pharmacist Sadik Al-Hassan has been elected as the MP for Somerset North.

The Labour representative beat Conservative candidate Liam Fox, who has held the seat for the last 32 years.

Mr Al-Hassan, whose handle on X is @Sadik4Pharmacy, has previously used his platform to speak about the challenges facing the community pharmacy sector.

During the election campaign, he spent time working in local pharmacies.

And he is quoted on the Labour party website saying: ‘Pharmacies like those in Nailsea, Clevedon, and Portishead with their amazing teams are being asked to deliver more services but the funding doesn’t work to support them, putting this vital community service at risk.

‘This awful funding squeeze by the Conservative government is why we are losing pharmacies from our high streets.’

Mr Al-Hassan said it was 'time for a new approach to healthcare'.

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He said 'vital services' should be 'properly staffed and properly funded', and more services should be delivered in local communities.

Such a pleasure to work in West Hill Pharmacy this morning #Portishead helping Max and the team serve patients

Great to catch up with health champion, Max about the challenges we face in #pharmacy

As a local pharmacist I know vital community serviced like this need protecting. pic.twitter.com/HA3uFhoxig

— Sadik 🌹 (@Sadik4Pharmacy) June 27, 2024

As a local pharmacist I have been working in the two @DayLewisGroup pharmacies in #Nailsea today with the amazing teams and helping some wonderful patients.

Local pharmacies are at risk due to funding and we need to protect them with the other vital services on our high streets. pic.twitter.com/tnCis0vaxn

— Sadik 🌹 (@Sadik4Pharmacy) June 26, 2024

In another recent post on X he praised Wes Streeting’s support for the sector.

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He wrote: ‘If the Tories valued pharmacy during the last 14 years then the sector would not be where it is today.

‘We have been left with broken high streets and pharmacies have been pushed to the brink.’

Mr Al-Hassan received 19,138 votes in the constituency, compared to Mr Fox’s 18,499.

The Liberal Democrat candidate Ash Cartman received 7,121 votes, while Reform’s Alexander Kokkinoftas had 5,602.

The Green party’s Oscar Livesey-Lodwick had 3,273 votes. While Suneil Basu, who represented the Workers Party of Great Britain, received 133 votes.

Pharmacist Taiwo Owatemi retains seat as Labour MP

Meanwhile, hospital pharmacist and chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Pharmacy (APPG) Taiwo Owatemi has retained her seat as a Labour MP for Coventry North West.

Ms Owatemi has previously told The Pharmacist that she tries to ensure other MPs ‘actually understand pharmacy beyond dispensing’.

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And she said she wants other parliamentarians to ‘understand some of the barriers that are preventing pharmacists from being able to achieve that clinical vision that everybody wants’.

IPA chief Leyla Hannbeck gains 11% of vote

The chief executive of the Independent Pharmacies Association (IPA) was standing as a Liberal Democrat MP in the Norfolk constituency of Broadland and Fakenham.

Dr Leyla Hannbeck placed third in yesterday’s vote, with 5,526 votes leading to an 11.16% share.

Speaking to The Pharmacist this morning, she congratulated 'all the new MPs for taking the steps to become parliamentarians', saying: 'we applaud you and look forward to working with you'.