On Monday 5th August, the Member of Parliament for Alyn & Deeside, Mark Tami MP, visited Knights Pharmacy in Hawarden to discuss current changes to the way community pharmacies are supported in Wales. In contrast to England, the Welsh Government has re-stated its commitment to the community pharmacy sector, with £20million investment to support and enhance pharmacy services in Wales in this current financial year. 

Mark Tami welcomed the progress being made on expanding the number of services available in pharmacies across Flintshire. He said: “Community pharmacies are offering an ever increasing service and taking pressure off both GPs and the out of hours services in hospitals. I was impressed with innovations like the Emergency Medicines Scheme, which people can access via pharmacies rather than putting pressure on out of hours hospital services.  

“Naturally, as community pharmacies offer more services closer to home, the volume of contacts they have as increasing too. Pharmacists do an amazing job. It is not simply a case of getting it off the shelf and sticking a label on it. It’s not right that they come face to face with daily anger and abuse, even if it is just as little as tutting when there is a long queue. We all need to make sure we aren’t behaving unreasonably or making unnecessary phone calls. I wish constituents to work with me to be Patient Pharmacy Patients.” 

Commenting on the visit, Judy Thomas of Community Pharmacy Wales said: 

“This is an exciting time for community pharmacy in North Wales. It was a pleasure to welcome Mark Tami for a constructive and positive discussion on how health on the high street can be made as accessible and broad as possible. This is a critical time for community pharmacy and we are grateful for his enthusiastic support and also his helpful words about the demands faced by community pharmacists and their teams as they continue to take the pressure off GPs and hospitals.” 

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