This week in Parliament w/c 4th November

Welcome back to the APPG on Pharmacy weekly Parliamentary update. Set out below is a summary of key parliamentary and policy developments in community pharmacy from the week just gone.

Announcements

NHS 10 Year Health Plan - Working Groups

As had been widely anticipated, the Government confirmed this week that 11 working groups will be established to support the development of the final plan.

 Four of these have been designated as ‘vision’ working groups and have been tasked with considering the future vision for the NHS, organised around specific patient-centred themes. The other seven working groups have been given an ‘enabler’ designation, tasked with focusing on changes that are needed to ‘enable the vision to become a reality’.

Each group will be co-chaired by a representative from DHSC or NHS England and a representative from an external organisation.

As reported in the HSJ, the vision groups are expected to report to Wes Streeting by Christmas, with the enabler groups operating against a slightly longer lead-time, having been asked to conclude their work by February. Further details on the membership of each group and their terms of reference are expected to be published in December.

Groups relevant to pharmacy may include mobilising change, financing and contracting and the ‘vision’ group “I can access the high-quality and effective care I need, when and where I need it”.

Key Parliamentary Activity

Spoken contributions

Budget Resolutions – 6th November

  • Shockat Adam (Independent) spoke about funding crisis in professions such as dentistry, pharmacy and optometry and the role these services play in providing community-based healthcare.

Income Tax (Charge) – 5th November

  • Danny Beales (Labour) referenced the importance of ensuring that investment in the NHS, raised through taxation, reaches primary care and community pharmacy. Described community Pharmacy as “front door” of the NHS.

  • Sadik Al-Hassan (Labour) spoke about the importance of pharmacy and the role it will play in helping to rebuild the NHS.

Written Questions:

There were 5 written questions relating to Pharmacy answered in the House of Commons this week. These can be viewed on Hansard here.

House of Commons