NPA petition tops 300k signatures ahead of second protest day
The pharmacy body’s #saveourpharmacies petition has garnered over 300,000 ahead of the second “day of action” next month.
“The #saveourpharmacies petition, as promoted by the National Pharmacy Association (NPA), now has 302,466 signatures,” NPA chief executive officer Paul Rees has revealed.
Rees said that he was “delighted to confirm” the number on the social media platform X, formally know as Twitter, yesterday (August 12).
He added that the number follows “the great work of so many pharmacy teams to collect signatures at their pharmacies”.
Those who have signed the petition have joined the NPA’s demands for “immediate, fair and sustained funding, to safeguard NHS pharmacy services and ensure local pharmacies have a future”.
“Sets us up nicely”
Rees said that the thousands of signatures “sets us up nicely for our second day of action” on September 19.
The NPA told C+D last month that one of the ways for pharmacies to join the September 19 protest without closing their doors to patients will be for pharmacies to sound an alarm - either as a test of their own alarm system or by ringing a bell - at a set coordinated time during the morning of action.
Protesting pharmacies will also be encouraged to “place NPA-provided stickers on dispensing bags” and “hand out NPA-provided postcards to patients – to be sent to MPs and Devolved Nation politicians”, according to NPA guidance.
It comes after the “highly successful” emergency #SaveOurPharmacies protest that took place on June 20, which saw around 6,000 pharmacies turn out their lights, black out their windows and wear black to raise awareness about the crisis in the sector.
First announced in early June, the initial “emergency” day of protest action on June 20 organised by the NPA sought to “signify dark times for the beleaguered community pharmacy sector”.
In April, the pharmacy union published an open letter to the NPA saying that employee and locum pharmacists “should not come under pressure to participate” in its June 20 protest and raising concerns around patient safety.
But it later said that it would launch its own separate but “supportive” campaign at a later date, after “discussions” with the NPA.
