Pharmacy Voice and the NPA are to split at the end of next year.

The NPA has decided to withdraw its funding from Pharmacy Voice from the end of 2017 in order to create a “simpler” representation structure for community pharmacy, it said today (December 13).

NPA chair Ian Strachan said that the organisation’s board requested that he take steps to increase the clout of English community pharmacy leadership.

The sector’s leadership must be “fit for purpose”, and should ensure that community pharmacy is “secure, thriving and fulfilling its potential”, despite the challenges caused by government funding cuts, he said.

Community pharmacy representation must be able to “make its own voice heard distinctively and powerfully” and provide a “strong voice” for independents, he added.

The split from Pharmacy Voice should be “implemented in an organised and timely fashion”, embedding a “positive legacy” from the organization – including its recent community pharmacy forward view document, said Mr Strachan.

“Disappointed”

Pharmacy Voice chief executive Rob Darracott said he was “disappointed” by the NPA’s decision. But Pharmacy Voice had “exciting and important” plans over the next year that would help the sector “back on the front foot”, he stressed.

“We have always believed in the need to maximise the combined resources of the network through more effective joint working, both between the sector’s national bodies and with other partner organisations.

“I’m disappointed that this announcement has pre-empted the conclusion of some of those discussions, but my team and I remain committed to participating in dialogue on the future of a sector we care so deeply about,” he said.