Opinion: Change the record, Wes

Most people would surely admit that Wes Streeting and Stephen Kinnock have made a somewhat underwhelming start in Government.

Other than repeating the “broken, not beaten” mantra on loop, reheating some past-their-sell-by-date policies from the New Labour era and calling on the services of old chums like Lord Darzi and Alan Milburn to tell us that the NHS is failing, inefficient and falling part (who knew?), they seem worryingly bereft of fresh thinking and cohesive policy formation. 

Let’s discount the farcical Change NHS initiative. To ask the public for ideas when you’ve had 14 years in opposition to formulate a rescue plan just doesn’t cut the mustard. 

Health minister Kinnock, perhaps bogged down by a brief encompassing no fewer than 16 areas of responsibility, of which pharmacy is just one, has made little impact so far. He has, however, managed to brass off pharmacists with some ill-advised comments about pharmacies being “private businesses”, closures reflecting “many factors” and then not bothering to turn up in person at the LPC conference, which shows where pharmacy sits in his pecking order. 

Rachel Reeves’ budget was a disaster for pharmacy. The Independent Pharmacies Association described it as “a wrecking ball” that will cost the sector over £125m through the hike in employer NI contributions and the national living wage – simply unaffordable with funding in freefall.

You would hope that Kinnock, whose Aberafan Maesteg constituency is a shortish hop along the A465 from Tredegar, birthplace of Aneurin Bevan, would be familiar with one of the founding principles of the NHS – that it should meet the needs of everyone. It will be difficult for pharmacies to meet the needs of anyone when they are closing at a rate of one a day.

And now the NPA has announced that pharmacy owners have voted overwhelmingly for collective action for the first time in their history. It’s that desperate.

Never mind (another) 10 Year Health Plan, some pharmacies will struggle to make it beyond 10 weeks unless Streeting and Kinnock resolve the funding crisis immediately. The Government is failing pharmacy and failing patients too. Stop the posturing. Fix the problem instead.