If human cloning should ever become the norm then Howard Stoate's DNA will be highly sought after in pharmacy circles. He's an influential MP, a practising GP and, believe it or not, an ardent pharmaphile.

Dr Stoate has been banging the drum for the pharmacy sector in the corridors of power since being elected in 1997. He launched the All Party Parliamentary Group for Pharmacy (APPG), which gives industry issues airtime at Westminster, and was also the engine behind the recent government white paper dedicated to the profession.

Dr Stoate's enthusiasm is rooted in his days as a trainee doctor. “My GP mentor had a lot of time for pharmacists,” he explains. “I went to spend days with my local pharmacist and I thought this guy has something to offer.”

Those formative days were to have a defining effect on Dr Stoate's NHS outlook. “In the 1980s we had pharmacists down as people who take packets off shelves and mix potions. I saw they had a lot more to offer and needed to be integrated into mainstream delivery of care,” he says.

Nearly 20 years later and he has the platform to push forward those changes. Dr Stoate arrived in parliament as MP for Dartford in Labour's landslide election win of 1997. He set to work immediately. “I started asking around about whether there was any representation in the house for pharmacy. I was told there was nobody, so I went to the president of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society and asked about setting up a pharmacy steering group.”

The APPG was subsequently born, at last giving the sector an official voice in parliament after 150 years. The group, chaired by Dr Stoate, brings together MPs, industry leaders and 'ordinary' pharmacists to discuss prevalent pharmacy issues. Its crowning glory so far has been a 2007 report into the future of pharmacy that, says Dr Stoate, was the blueprint for the pharmacy white paper.

“I think we've been very influential in helping the DH come up with pharmacy policy. Our report had a huge influence on the white paper. We hadn't realised how interested the DH was, so maybe we could have chucked more in.”

The APPG report ran over eight evidence sessions and assayed the views of PCTs and GPs as well as the pharmacy hierarchy. However, nearly two years on, Dr Stoate says it's time for a sequel. “What we're now doing is looking at the implementation of the white paper. We're going to look at barriers and hear about PCTs who are engaging and those who are not engaging.” The inquiry kicked off earlier this month and will run throughout 2009. It will be some double if the APPG can help implement as well as inspire a white paper.

But it is not only through official documents such as the white paper that political allies can help the sector. Dr Stoate says that behind the scenes discussions between MPs on the APPG and senior figures at the DH are equally valuable.
As an example, he recounts a recent discussion with pharmacy minister Phil Hope in which the possibility of pharmacy representation on PCT boards was discussed - something Mr Hope made a pledge to tackle in his speech at the PSNC conference in March. “There's one or two barriers but I'm sure it's going to happen in one form or another,” Dr Stoate adds.

Such advances signify a sea-change in pharmacy's political profile, Dr Stoate remarks. “There's a huge amount of time for pharmacy in government. There are many MPs doing constituency visits to pharmacies…The government wants pharmacists to improve clinical care.”

And, despite the historical animosities, Dr Stoate says GPs are also on side. “There's lots of examples of where it works well. Too often we focus on the negative. I'm amazed by the variety of services pharmacists offer. It's just not reached the mainstream consciousness of GPs yet.”

He argues that doctors dismiss the expertise of the local pharmacist at their peril. “During my time as a GP they've saved my bacon. Pharmacists have quite rightly picked up the phone upon reading a prescription and said: 'Did you really mean that?'. Every GP has been there.”

The two professions have a symbiotic relationship and they're going to need each other more than ever in the future, Dr Stoate adds. While this transition will work better in some places than in others, he predicts that screening for chronic conditions, health MOTs and medicine use reviews are all prime contenders for areas of increased collaboration. “The government is working with GPs to take more and more work out of hospitals. Doctors will be doing more and have to pass some of their current jobs to others - a big chunk can go to pharmacy.”

Overall, Dr Stoate forecasts that pharmacists have much to smile about both today and in the days ahead. “I'm really of the opinion that the age of pharmacy is with us. The profession is making a really huge contribution to healthcare and is on the cusp of a big thing.”

One thing's for sure, you can guarantee that Dr Stoate will be providing more than a gentle nudge to help pharmacy get there.

Doctor's surgery

Howard Stoate on:

How to make friends with your GP

“Pick up the phone and talk to them about the services you can help provide. It just needs someone to break the ice.”

How to tactfully tell the GP he's got a prescription wrong

“If the pharmacist was to phone up and say 'you're poisoning patients' that would not go down well. However, if you said 'did you know Mrs Smith is already taking x,y and z?', most GPs would think 'thank God for that'.”

If he's such a big pharmacy fan why didn't he train as a pharmacist?

“To be honest I'm not a brilliant businessman. I think pharmacists have to have that ability, which I lack.”