AIMp CEO Dr Leyla Hannbeck to stand as MP in next general election
The chief executive of the Association of Independendent Multiple Pharmacies (AIMp) has announced that she will stand as a candidate in the next UK general election.
An AIMp spokesperson today (March 5) said that its chief executive Dr Leyla Hannbeck is “pleased to announce that she has been selected as a prospective parliamentary candidate and will be standing in this general election”.
They urged the sector and the public to “vote pharmacy”, adding that further details “will be coming soon”.
Dr Hannbeck announced via social media platform X that she is "delighted to have been selected as a prospective parliamentary candidate for [the] Liberal Democrats and will be standing in the beautiful constituency of Broadland and Fakenham".
She said she was unable to comment on how she proposes to champion pharmacy in her campaign at this stage in the process.
It remains unclear when the campaign will formally launch.
AIMp “excluded” from joint manifesto
Meanwhile, the AIMp spokesperson hit out at a joint election manifesto published by sector bodies today.
Community Pharmacy England (CPE), the Company Chemists’ Association (CCA), the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) today (March 5) published the “#VotePharmacy” manifesto.
It called for an expansion to the recently launched Pharmacy First service, as part of a “six-point plan to unleash the potential of community pharmacy”.
AIMp today said that it is “pleased to see a joint manifesto” following its calls for joint working between pharmacy organisations in September - including “having a joint manifesto rather than each organisation having its own wish list”.
And it added that “most of what is published in the manifesto is what [AIMp] as an organisation [has] been highlighting for many months” and covers issues that have been “well-reported” in the media.
But the spokesperson said that it “is a shame that these pharmacy bodies decided to exclude AIMp from this manifesto”.
CPE: “Our door is open”
CPE told C+D that AIMp was “not involved” in the creation of the manifesto because it last year “indicated to all other bodies that [it] did not support parliamentary or manifesto work beyond that carried out through the All-Party Pharmacy Group (APPG)”.
“Should AIMp or any other contractor group wish to have further discussions about this or wider parliamentary work, our door is open,” a spokesperson said.
They stressed that the manifesto “can be used by anyone in community pharmacy” and is “in line with all our ambitions for the future”.
Read more: AIMp: Sector leaders’ ‘doormat approach’ to government must end
A CCA spokesperson added that it is “delighted that AIMp is supportive of the manifesto, which has involved considerable work from all of the pharmacy bodies involved”.
And an NPA spokesperson said that it is “always happy to work with colleagues right across the pharmacy sector to address shared concerns”.
“It’s not unusual for different groupings to come together to work on common issues and it’s good that AIMp, along with other bodies in our sector, supports the policy positions in the #VotePharmacy manifesto,” they added.
Read more: Pharmacies will be in ‘survival’ mode for the next six months, sector leaders warn
“We all agree that pharmacies are facing a very difficult time and the NPA will continue to collaborate with colleagues across the sector who are fighting for a better deal for pharmacies,” they said.
