The Company Chemists’ Association (CCA) – which represents Boots, Lloydspharmacy, Well, Rowlands and Superdrug, as well as the pharmacy arms of Morrisons, Tesco and Asda – met Steve Brine MP on March 6.

The meeting went “very well”, the CCA told C+D, and offered an opportunity for the organisation’s new chief executive – former Boots senior manager Malcolm Harrison – to meet the minister.

“Malcolm is very keen to meet with stakeholders from across the pharmacy and healthcare sectors, so that he can understand their views on where the challenges and opportunities lie for both our organisation and the sector as a whole,” the CCA said.

“As well as discussing the role of the CCA and its members within primary care, Malcolm and the minister talked about the minister’s vision for the future of primary care and disease prevention.”

“The meeting was very constructive and we look forward to working with the minster and his team in future,” the organisation added.

Mr Brine tweeted after the event that it had been “excellent” to meet CCA representatives. “Thank you for all you do,” he added.

The Department of Health and Social Care told C+D it could not comment on what was discussed in the “closed meeting”.

The CCA was represented by Pharmacy Voice, until the body dissolved in 2017 following the National Pharmacy Association’s decision to pull out.