The NHS must not forget pharmacy in its drive to tackle growing public health problems such as smoking and obesity, pharmacy minister Earl Howe has warned.

Pharmacy had a clear role to play in early intervention and diagnosis of preventable diseases, Earl Howe told the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on primary care and public health's summer reception yesterday (July 18).

The reception, held at Westminster, looked at the implications of the APPG's six-month inquiry on how to address the "massive demand" preventable diseases were placing on the NHS.

Earl Howe highlighted the "inspirational" work healthy living pharmacies have done in public health	More on public health MPs call for pharmacy funding overhaul to tackle        preventable diseases Local authorities to quiz LPCs on public health Xrayser: Interventions? People do what they want MORE NEWS
	Earl Howe said primary care had a "vital role" to play in tackling the problem and stressed that public health commissioners "must not forget community pharmacy". He emphasised that GPs should be working with the "breadth of primary care expertise" to advise patients on how to live as healthily as possible.

Pharmacies were "less frightening places" than GP surgeries, he said, enabling them to better target hard-to-reach groups.

Earl Howe highlighted that pharmacy had helped thousands of people quit smoking last year and healthy living pharmacies (HLPs) had carried out "inspirational" work in public health.

"I'm tremendously encouraged by the HLP initiative," Earl Howe told the reception. "Having spoken to patients, they have a good working relationship with a particular individual in that pharmacy and can talk privately to that person".

In the Q&A session following Earl Howe's speech, pharmacists agreed the sector could play a wider role in disease prevention, but stressed that pharmacists could not carry on providing services for free and would need to receive remuneration for their work.

The APPG inquiry suggested self-care and prevention should be built into the pharmacy contract, and that caps on MURs should be lifted.