APPG chair backs merger of pharmacy funding with other professions

The community pharmacy sector would benefit from having its budget merged with other health professions, according to the chair of the All-Party Pharmacy Group (APPG).

Speaking to Chemist and Druggist, Labour MP Sir Kevin Barron recommended that the NHS integrates its budgets across primary, acute and social care to encourage better cooperation between professionals.

Earlier this year, a Labour-commissioned report suggested that primary care should be commissioned locally rather than nationally, with Sir Kevin stating that pharmacists could assist with this process if they could be guaranteed proper rewards for delivering local services.

The APPG chair also called for problems with the electronic prescription service to be addressed and for pharmacists to gain access to patient records, as this would improve communication between GPs and pharmacies.

He explained: "The only way you're going to bring [health and social care] together is to bring the budgets together. Different aspects of health and social care pride themselves on how much budget they've got – we've got to get rid of that thinking."

The APPG was created in 1999 and is dedicated to inquiring into issues of current interest and significance for pharmacy, patients and the NHS, with members of all political parties included.