Protest action hoped to spotlight pharmacy plight

National Pharmacy Association (NPA) members across the UK have participated in a second day of action today by wearing black, displaying posters and raising awareness of the impact of funding cuts on the sector.

It comes as the NPA has announced plans to escalate its action and ballot its members on 'working to rule'.

Gordons Chemists are joining with @compharmacyni and pharmacies from across the UK in the NPA - National Pharmacy Association day of action to call for an end to the funding crisis.
Help spread the message to our MLA's @mikenesbittni #saveourpharmacies pic.twitter.com/fxidF5MPMU

— Gordons Chemists (@GordonsChemists) September 19, 2024

Contractor and NPA board member Ashley Cohen told The Pharmacist that he hoped the 'constant media' coverage of the day on multiple national and local channels could 'only help in educating patients about the critical and acute situation that we're in'.

He said that his staff were supporting the NPA's second day of protest today in 'the most professional way that we can', including by displaying posters, wearing black, and 'making sure that every patient is aware of the dire straits that we're in'.

'They may not necessarily understand complexities around dispensing at a loss and a five year contract at 0%, but they've seen pharmacies close up the road. They don't want pharmacy deserts, they don't want to have to travel miles and miles to get their medicines, so they are supportive,' he said.

Related Article: Anticoagulant Inhixa recalled due to typo

And he said he was a 'massive supporter' of the NPA's plans to ballot its members on 'working to rule'.

'I think it's really important that we express in as loud as possible terms to the government that enough is enough,' Mr Cohen said.

He suggested that most pharmacies were already taking many of the actions described in the ballot, such as reducing core hours and reducing services that aren't funded.

'It's a shame as a professional that we have to have to do it, but there's only so much that we can take,' he added.

And while he said that as a pharmacist professional he was 'always worried' about any patient safety impact, 'we have to work and operate in an environment that's not only safe for our patients, but safe for our staff'.

'We can't keep doing more work, squeezed in the same number of hours,' he said.

'So in the same way that our other colleagues are working to rule a little bit, we've got to stop doing things that aren't funded, and we have to re-educate patients that this is the new way of working,' he said.

Some general practices began 'working to rule' on 1 August, under action organised by the British Medical Association (BMA).

Mr Cohen said he hoped the ballot would become 'irrelevant' if the government restored the sector's funding.

'That will stop the closures and allow us to operate and be part of the solution moving forward,' he said.

Other pharmacies have chosen to highlight pharmacy closures by dimming the lights in their pharmacy 'to show what it would look like' if the pharmacy closed.

💊 Save Our Pharmacies! 💊
Today, we’ve dressed in black, blanked our windows, and dimmed the lights to show what it could look like if community pharmacies like ours closed.

We’re calling on the government to act NOW before it’s too late!#SaveOurPharmacies #NPA pic.twitter.com/IaXNjSTbDC

Related Article: Interview: Pharmacy First saves time, prevents escalation, and frees up capacity

— Olivier Picard (@OlivierPicardUK) September 19, 2024

And others symbolically sounded an alarm.

I’m taking part in the @NPA1921 #saveourpharmacies day today - raising the alarm, wearing black, lights off to symbolise the sad state of affairs we pharmacy owners find ourselves in. We’ve been serving our local community for over 45 years, and want to continue to do so pic.twitter.com/eievGPj0tZ

— Reena Barai (@REENABARAI) September 19, 2024

Sector leaders from Community Pharmacy England (CPE), the Company Chemists' Association (CCA), Community Pharmacy Northern Ireland (CPNI) and the NPA also highlighted patient concern by presenting their 'Save our pharmacies' petition, which now has more than 350,000 signatures, to parliament today.

Good to be joined by other sector leaders to deliver over 350,000 signatures to Downing Street this morning showing support for our #SaveOurPharmacies campaign

It's vital that the Government reverses funding cuts and invests in community pharmacy. pic.twitter.com/zwES6KxEiL

— National Pharmacy Association (@NPA1921) September 19, 2024

Related Article: New GPhC chief standards officer appointed

NPA chief executive, Paul Rees, said that the second day of action was hoped to 'build on the momentum of the first, to make sure politicians and senior NHS officials are in no doubt about the precarious state of the UK’s precious community pharmacy network'.

'What we need is for government to urgently deliver a fair deal for the community pharmacy sector – and reverse the years of declining real terms funding.

'Wes Streeting took personal notice of our first day of action so this action backs up our representation in Westminster and Whitehall,' he said.