The government has “more to do” to make best use of pharmacy, cross-party MPs have said, despite progress made during its first 100 days in power.

The all-party pharmacy group (APPG) is “encouraged” that the government has acted on "several" recommendations the group made prior to the election: the national flu service announced in July is “exactly” what the APPG called for, and the England-wide rollout of access to the summary care record is “a step on the road to full read-write access”, Kevin Barron MP said earlier this week (August 26).

But medicines shortages continue to leave patients "inconvenienced, stressed and sometimes harmed”, and the APPG will “press for action” on the issue. “This isn’t just our view – we are constantly hearing this from clinical commissioning groups, pharmacists and patients themselves,” Sir Kevin said.

The APPG is pleased with the government’s commitment to decriminalising dispensing errors and “removing the spectre” of a criminal record for “making an honest mistake”, Sir Kevin said. However, in July pharmacy minister Alistair Burt failed to specify – when questioned by Sir Kevin – whether the government will address a loophole in its decriminalisation proposals that leaves contractors open to prosecution for inadvertent labelling errors.

NHS England needs to make "better use" of pharmacies by ensuring minor ailment and weight management services are commissioned "across the country" and not just "in pockets", Sir Kevin said.

He will meet Mr Burt "shortly" to discuss what the government should do next, and launch an inquiry into how to make best use of pharmacy to improve patient care, he said.

What do you think of the government's first 100 days in power?

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