Shaw Councillor Chris Gloster, Liberal Democrat Shadow Cabinet Member for Public Health, will be proposing a motion to next Wednesday’s meeting of Oldham Council (9 November) calling upon the Government to abandon plans to cut the budgets of community pharmacies which could lead to the closure of many thousands of pharmacies across the country.

Councillor Gloster said: “People rely upon their local chemists for their prescriptions and to buy a wide range of over-the-counter medicines, but pharmacies offer more than a simple dispensing service. Pharmacists are highly trained and able to answer many of the questions that patients have about their health conditions and the appropriate treatments for them.”

“And many pharmacies also offer a much valued collection and delivery service where they collect prescriptions from GP’s surgeries on behalf of patients, dispense the medicines in-house and deliver them door-to-door to the patient. This is especially necessary where the patient is housebound, whether elderly, disabled or temporarily too ill to leave their home.”

“By threatening to drastically reduce funding for community pharmacies, the Government is making a false economy as patients will simply be forced to call further on our over-pressed NHS services for the answers to their questions and the medicines that they need.”

Liberal Democrat Councillor Rod Blyth also represents Shaw. He is backing his colleague Councillor Gloster in calling for a Government re-think:

“The Oldham Liberal Democrats believe strongly that pharmacies need to be locally-based and embedded within the communities which they serve. Cutting community pharmacies will simply put more pressure onto already overstretched GP surgeries and our hospital Accident and Emergency Department when winter is approaching and patient referrals peak.”

“We need Government to abandon these foolish plans. Our motion asks the Council Chief Executive to make our concerns clear to Government Ministers and also calls on our local MPs to fight to keep the community pharmacies in our borough open.”

Council 9 November 2016 – Notice of Opposition Business – Motion 3 – Funding for Community Pharmacies

This Council notes:

• The £170million reduction in NHS funding for community pharmacies announced on December 17^th 2015 which could put many out of business

• The announcement made by the Government on September 5^th 2016 of the delay to the cuts which were originally due to be introduced in October 2016

• The scrapping of plans to introduce a “hub and spoke” model for community pharmacies

This Council believes that:

• The Government’s plans threaten patient access to pharmacies and pharmacy services in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham and that the recent announcements are causing uncertainty about future investment in pharmacy services

• Our local pharmacies are at risk of closure or being forced to cut services such as free delivery of prescription drugs, family planning advice and advice on medicines

• This will put more pressure on GPs and hospitals and impact social services and is at odds with the local Clinical Commissioning Group’s desire to increase the use of pharmacists to ease pressure on GPs.

This Council resolves to:

• Request that the Chief Executive writes to the Secretary of State responsible calling for the Government to abandon these cuts, rather than just simply to postpone them, and to make a commitment to maintaining a fully-funded community pharmacy service

• Request that the Chief Executive also writes to the Borough’s three Members of Parliament and to the Chair of the NHS Oldham Clinical Commissioning Group asking them to make similar representations on this matter to the Secretary of State.