Pharmacy bodies are optimistic they can raise the sector's profile over the party conference season, following early success at the Liberal Democrat gathering last weekend.  

RPS board member and former Lib Dem MP Sandra Gidley, who attended the party's conference (September 14-18), said pharmacy had been mentioned in a number of fringe meetings and local politicians were keen to hear how the sector could improve public health.

"A lot of people in the audience run councils [and] health and wellbeing boards, but they still haven't quite got it. We've got to keep on engaging in any way possible, because they will be deciding how money is spent on the local public health agenda," she told C+D after the conference (September 18).  

"We're a long way from where we need to be, but we are definitely going in the right direction and people are noticing," she added.

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	The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) and Pharmacy Voice are also attending the Labour (September 22-25), Lib Dem and Conservative (September 29-October 2) conferences this month and told C+D they were expecting politicians to engage with their key messages.

The RPS is hosting a "health hotel" meeting at each of the conferences to discuss health and social care issues. It is also hosting fringe meetings with charity Drinkaware and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, to promote how they can contribute to the lifetime care of patients.

Pharmacy Voice is working with the Optical Federation and the British Society of Hearing Aid Audiologists at each of the conferences to promote widening the role of existing primary care contractors within the health service.  

It was "crucial" that the sector was heard at this year's conferences because the next general election was only about 18 months away, said Pharmacy Voice representative Gareth Jones.  

"It's a critical time for [the] preparation of manifestos and the formation of policy. So this year and next year are a really important time to be engaging with the parties at the top level and with local councillors," he told C+D.