Pharmacy Voice to launch new sector PR campaign

Pharmacy Voice has confirmed that it will be launching a new PR campaign to raise awareness and garner further support for the community pharmacy sector.

The organisation's chief executive Rob Darracott revealed to Chemist and Druggist that it will be sending out case studies of pharmacy successes to newspapers and TV channels as a means of promoting the sector to commissioners and the public.

It is hoped that the initiative will help to show patients, policymakers and other health professionals how the role of pharmacy is changing and draw more attention to the industry, particularly from health secretary Jeremy Hunt.

Pharmacists will also be sent display materials to support the initiative, although these would not be distributed until after the campaign's launch, scheduled for the final week of October 2013.

Mr Darracott said: "We want to get across some of the basics: what is community pharmacy? How is it responding to changes in the NHS? How does it support people's health and wellbeing?"

Pharmacy Voice was founded by the Association of Independent Multiple Pharmacies, the Company Chemists' Association and the National Pharmacy Association as a means of creating a unified communications channel for the sector.