division_name: Community Pharmacies
motion: <p class="indent" pid="b897.2/2" pwmotiontext="yes">That this House notes that community pharmacies are valued assets that offer face-to-face healthcare advice which relieves pressure on other NHS services; calls on the Government to rethink its changes to community pharmacy funding; and further calls on the Government to ensure that community pharmacies are protected from service reduction and closure and that local provision of community pharmacy services is protected.</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b897.4/3" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;I think it is right that we spend the time, particularly me as an incoming minister, to make sure that we are making the correct decision&#8221;.</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b897.4/5" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;what we do is going to be right for you, is going to be right for the NHS and right for the public more generally.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b899.10/3" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;no community will be left without a pharmacy.&#8221;&#8212;[Official Report, <phrase class="date" code="2016-10-17">17 October</phrase> 2016; Vol. 615.]</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b899.10/5" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;Nobody is talking about thousands of pharmacies closing&#8221;. &#8212;[Official Report, <phrase class="date" code="2016-10-17">17 October</phrase> 2016; Vol. 615, c. 602-3.]</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b901.2/4" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;along roads in Leicester you will see 12 pharmacies within ten minutes of each other&#8221;.</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b902.4/2" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;founded on ignorance of the value of pharmacies to local communities, to the NHS, and to social care, and will do great damage to all three. We cannot accept them.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b902.4/4" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;incoherent, self-defeating and wholly unacceptable&#8221;,</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b902.4/6" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;out of step with messages encouraging people to make more use of their community pharmacists, to relieve pressure on overstretched A&amp;E departments and GP surgeries.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b902.6/3" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;pharmacies have a big role to play in this, as one in 11 or 12 A and E appointments could be dealt with at a pharmacy&#8221;&#8212;[Official Report, <phrase class="date" code="2016-02-25">25 February</phrase> 2014; Vol. 576, c. 162.]&#8212;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b902.6/5" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;Pharmacies have an important role to play, because they could save a significant number of A and E and GP visits.&#8221;&#8212;[Official Report, <phrase class="date" code="2016-10-23">23 October</phrase> 2014; Vol. 586, c. 1049.]</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b903.3/5" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;It does not make sense that we are encouraging pharmacies to take on a bigger role in the NHS, while potentially reducing the number of them.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b903.3/7" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;I do not think this 4% cut is a wise move.&#8221;&#8212;[Official Report, <phrase class="date" code="2016-10-20">20 October</phrase> 2016; Vol. 615, c. 974.]</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b903.3/9" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;when our A&amp;Es are under so much pressure, we need community pharmacies&#8221;.&#8212;[Official Report, <phrase class="date" code="2016-10-17">17 October</phrase> 2016; Vol. 615, c. 598.]</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b904.0/2" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;welcomes the Government&#8217;s proposals to further integrate community pharmacy into the NHS, including through the Pharmacy Integration Fund, and make better use of pharmacists&#8217; clinical expertise, including investing &#163;112 million to deliver a further 1,500 pharmacists in general practice by 2020; supports the need to reform the funding system to ensure better value for the taxpayer; and welcomes the establishment of a Pharmacy Access Scheme which will ensure all patients in all parts of the country continue to enjoy good access to a local community pharmacy.&#8221;.</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b906.4/2" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;will support community pharmacy to develop new clinical pharmacy services, working practices and online support to meet the public&#8217;s expectations for a modern NHS.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b910.2/4" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;The public can be reassured that while efficiencies are being asked of community pharmacy just as they are of other parts of the NHS, there is still sufficient funding to ensure there are accessible and convenient local NHS pharmacy services across England. The NHS is committed to a positive future for pharmacists and community pharmacy.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b913.0/2" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;We may survive the first set of&#8221;&#8212;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b913.0/4" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;cuts by compromising on our services. But the second set of cuts next April will most definitely place us at a real risk of closure.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b914.2/7" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;to improve on how pharmacists, their teams and community pharmacy operates within the NHS as a whole.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b920.0/3" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;the potential impacts&#8230;are assessed on the basis that there is a scenario where no pharmacy closes&#8221;&#8212;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b920.0/5" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;There is no reliable way of estimating the number of pharmacies that may close as a result of this policy.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b920.2/3" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;by reallocating savings from community pharmacy funding to other uses&#8221;&#8212;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b920.2/5" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;ensuring that patient health is unaffected&#8221;.</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b920.2/8" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;expected to lead to reductions in the employment of pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and other pharmacy staff&#8221;,</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b920.2/12" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;the modelling does not take any account of potential reduction in opening hours which may also affect access.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b925.2/7" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;a baseline level of patient access to NHS community pharmacy services is protected.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b929.3/8" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;Many of us, however, feel betrayed, angry and confused right now because the government who promised to make Pharmacy at the heart of the NHS; has ripped the very heart out of Pharmacy.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b940.2/4" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;It will place an extra burden on the 111 service, and ignores the fact most people who require an emergency supply of their regular medication will go to their local pharmacy who have their records, and who will bend over backwards to help. In the case of people from out of the area needing an emergency supply of regular medication in Trimdon this only happens around three or four times a year. Ultimately, the 111 service is designed to help people who do not know what is wrong with them, not to assist those who know exactly what is wrong with them and are already being treated for it.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b940.2/6" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;there is no reliable way of estimating the number of pharmacies that may close as a result of this policy&#8221;.</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b949.2/3" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;there are significant opportunities for councils to commission public health services from community pharmacies as a key element of their health improvement strategies.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="italic" pid="b949.2/11" pwmotiontext="yes">The House divided:</p>
  
  <p pid="b949.2/12" pwmotiontext="yes">Ayes 211, Noes 305.</p>