Stephen Kinnock last week (October 24) carried out his “first visit” to a community pharmacy at Bedminster Pharmacy in Bristol, the pharmacy announced.
It said that it was Kinnock’s first time paying a visit to a community pharmacy since “taking office” as minister of state for care at the Department of Health and Social Care (DH) and revealing that he would be in charge of pharmacy in July.
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As well as speaking to patients and members of the team, Kinnock also received his annual winter flu vaccination during his visit to the Bedminster Pharmacy, it added.
The minister’s trip allowed him to gain “firsthand exposure to the array of services” on offer and “better understand the challenges” pharmacies face, the Bristol pharmacy said.
Kinnock said he “saw how integral” pharmacies are to local communities and praised the “fantastic work [pharmacists] do”.
Read more: Pharmacy minister Stephen Kinnock: ‘I want to unlock your potential’
“We inherited a broken NHS, where pharmacies have been neglected for years,” he said.
“As we shift care out of the hospital and into the community, we will support community pharmacies and pharmacists who will be crucial to making a healthcare system fit for the future,” he added.
Superintendent pharmacist at Bedminster Pharmacy Ade Williams said that Kinnock’s visit allowed the team to show how community pharmacy has made “a difference in the lives of patients”, despite the “ongoing challenges” the pharmacy sector faces.
Read more: Kinnock: ‘Pharmacies are private businesses’ and closures ‘reflect many factors’
Kinnock acknowledged that the pharmacy sector is in a “fragile state” in an exclusive piece he wrote for C+D earlier this month.
He told MPs last week that government drug reimbursement does not aim to price match “every product” dispensed by pharmacists but rather “aims overall to reimburse” pharmacies.
And just days later, Kinnock said that “pharmacies are private businesses and decisions to close reflect many factors” in response to a question about funding for pharmacies.