Pharmacy Voice has confirmed that it will formally shut down this Summer.
The lobbying group's board has been making plans for its closure since the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) announced in December last year that it would leave Pharmacy Voice at the end of 2017.
The announcement triggered a clause in Pharmacy Voice’s governing documents that prevents the organisation continuing without all three of its founding members, the NPA, the Association of Independent Multiple Pharmacies (AIM) and the Company Chemists' Association (CCA).
As a result, the Pharmacy Voice board will close and transfer its representative activities back to its constituent member associations by the end of March, it said yesterday (21 March).The Pharmacy Voice office will close at the end of April. 'Subject to legal requirements and timings, the organisation will be formally wound-up over the Summer,' the organisation said in a statement to members.

Some members of Pharmacy Voice staff will be transferring to either the CCA or the NPA on 1 April next month. Other members of staff are being made redundant.

Process going forward

AIM, CCA and the NPA will continue to work together on key sector-wide work streams previously delivered by Pharmacy Voice. Patient safety work and hosting the Medication Safety Officer (MSO) Group will be taken on by the CCA.Workforce development will also be co-ordinated the CCA and cross-sector work on community pharmacy IT will be taken on by the NPA.

'The associations have also agreed to continue providing a unified approach on other matters where their interests align, with a particular focus on delivering the vision set out in the Community Pharmacy Forward View,' Pharmacy Voice said.

'Key stakeholders have been informed of these plans, as appropriate, and the transfer of representational responsibilities, including where Pharmacy Voice staff have held membership of key NHS and Government groups and committees, has been initiated,' it added.