The chair of the National Pharmacy Association, Olivier Picard, has called for a “generational shift in priorities” in the NHS.
Speaking to primary care leaders from across the UK at a conference of health leaders, Picard described GPs and pharmacists as the "forgotten foot soldiers of our health system" who were managing "their highest workloads on record".
He said that the government’s 10-year plan ambitions were a "golden opportunity that must be grasped" but could only been done with sustained increases in the percentage of NHS budgets spent on primary care.
Meanwhile, primary care minister Stephen Kinnock MP told delegates that “stronger collaboration between GPs and community pharmacy is not just desirable, it is vital to the future success of the NHS”.
“This is the future direction of the health service, a more accessible one, making better use of technology.”
He promised delegates they would be central to turning the ambitions of the 10 Year Health Plan into a reality for patients – a more accessible, more preventative and more community-based health service, enabled by modern technology and delivered by the skilled professionals who know their patients best.
Picard was speaking at the Community Pharmacy and General Practice conference.