By Neil Trainis

The National Pharmacy Association’s director of corporate affairs Gareth Jones has said his organisation will submit evidence to the health and social care committee’s inquiry into pharmacy on behalf of independent pharmacies across England.

Jones described the inquiry, which will examine the impact of pharmacy funding, workforce recruitment, training and the quality of its digital infrastructure on its services in the community, primary care and hospitals, as a “significant opportunity for MPs to scrutinise the future” of the profession as well as “hold the current government to account” and “guide policy beyond the next general election.”

The Committee is taking evidence until July 6 and its inquiry could also be informed by some of the submissions that were not taken forward as part of its inquiry into the prevention of ill-health, as its chair Steve Brine indicated during the Sigma conference in March.

Some of the evidence collected as part of the prevention inquiry that could be examined during the pharmacy inquiry includes pharmacists’ roles across obesity, smoking, alcohol and mental health and pharmacies’ early detection of illness through population health data and advances in technology such as wearable tech and point-of-care testing.

The NPA, whose chief executive Mark Lyonette was appointed to a health and social care committee expert panel in April to scrutinise the government’s commitment to pharmacy services in England, was keen to stress how important it is for community pharmacy to engage with the inquiry.

“It puts pharmacy in the political spotlight just at the moment fundamental questions are being asked about the sustainability of the NHS as a whole,” Jones said.

“Community pharmacy can help solve many of the long-term challenges faced by the health service and this must be the thrust of the inquiry in our view.

“Having had many discussions with the committee’s chair over the years, including his time as a health minister, we are confident he understands the sector’s potential, especially in the prevention sphere. The right questions seem to be in the scope of the inquiry, including key issues of capacity, workforce, commissioning and funding.

“The committee’s conclusions and recommendations will be taken seriously by government, so it is vital that the community pharmacy sector engages fully.”