The All-Party Pharmacy Group (APPG) has announced that it has elected Labour MP for North Somerset Sadik Al-Hassan as its new chair.
Al-Hassan was elected alongside new vice-chairs Lord Scriven, Conservative MP for the Isle of Wight East Joe Robertson and Liberal Democrat MP for Newbury Lee Dillon following last week’s (October 20) annual general meeting, it said.
He replaces Labour MP for Exeter Steve Race, who stood down from the role following his appointment as parliamentary private secretary at the Department of Health and Social Care (DH) last month, it added.
Following his election, Al-Hassan said that he is “honoured to chair the APPG on pharmacy, to carry forward its important work and be the voice of the sector in parliament”.
Having been a community pharmacist for “nearly two decades”, he has “seen first‑hand the vital role pharmacies play in keeping people healthy, reducing pressure on GPs and hospitals, and delivering care at the heart of every community”, he added.
Pharmacy “advocate”
Al-Hassan thanked Race for his “leadership and dedication as an advocate for pharmacy in parliament”.
“[His] efforts in bringing together voices from inside and outside the sector to raise awareness of, and develop solutions to, the key challenges impacting pharmacists up and down the country...have been instrumental in shaping the future direction of the sector,” he said.
Read more: Steve Race MP: ‘Without community pharmacy, people would be unhealthier and poorer’
It comes after Al-Hassan spoke to C+D in February about the “fractured nature of pharmacy politics”, arguing that it is “very confusing for government” to have multiple pharmacy groups all wanting “different things”.
“It’s hard to explain to the minister the difference between the [pharmacy bodies]… at the end of the day, there isn’t a unified pharmacy voice,” he said at the time.
