Brighton MP visits local community pharmacy to find out about #PharmacyAdvice

During the visit Caroline Lucas met with James Wood, our chief executive officer, and Kamsons Beaconsfield Road pharmacy team to hear about their skills and the various services they offer, as well as the opportunities and challenges facing the sector.

Hannah Clarke, pharmacist on duty at Kamsons, highlighted what makes community pharmacy a very important community service.

She said: “many people visit us every day for much more than medicines; we provide a range of NHS services and ensure local people can get face-to-face professional healthcare advice without an appointment”.

Her team were also keen to point out the private consultation room available for people to have private conversations with the pharmacist and make best use of the pharmacists clinical expertise.

James explained why this visit was important: “It’s great to showcase community pharmacy as we have so much potential”.

He added: “NHS England has confirmed the role that pharmacists will take as part of the transformation of the NHS, and we look forward to developing strong links with, for example, primary care networks (PCNs) as part of that.

“Community pharmacy is well placed to offer a wider range of additional services that would both suit patients and help reduce pressure on other healthcare services.”

More information

Last month the GP funding deal, which will transform primary care, was announced.

#ParmacyAdvice is NHS England’s current campaign to encourage the public to use their local pharmacy as their first choice of healthcare setting for clinical advice for minor health concerns such as coughs, colds, stomach problems and aches and pains. It runs until end of March 2019.