Sir Gavin Williamson visited Northwood Pharmacy in Penkridge to take a look around their ‘Bank of Wellbeing’.
Sir Gavin met with the founder of Northwood Pharmacy Group, Harvey Northwood, to discuss the financial challenges faced by community pharmacies across the country. In particular, Harvey raised concerns about local pharmacies that are dispensing prescriptions at a loss and having to survive off their retail operations. Following the meeting, Sir Gavin has pledged to take these issues up with the Pharmacy Minister, Andrea Leadsom.
Northwood’s new project, ‘The Bank of Wellbeing’, provides additional support for those seeking health care services in Penkridge. Sir Gavin spoke with the front-of-house team treating private patients in the hub, where you can book to have blood tests, vaccinations, and more.
Sir Gavin said: “Northwood’s new ‘Bank of Wellbeing’ is a wonderful initiative that will support the work of pharmacies in the area. I commend Harvey for the work he has done which will undoubtedly take the pressure off other health care services on which we depend. I’ll be doing what I can in Parliament to ensure that community pharmacies are protected and better funded, so that Harvey and his team can continue their incredible work.”
Harvey Northwood, Director of Northwood Pharmacy Group said: "It was a distinct pleasure to welcome Sir Gavin to Northwood Pharmacy on Friday where he individually introduced himself to the team.
We were able to demonstrate using industry standard software, how many prescription medicines we dispense, are actually dispensed at a loss. Despite being able to procure medicine from eight suppliers on a daily basis, we are still not able to buy competitively enough to make a purchase profit on a large percentage of medicines. Sir Gavin was understandably shocked at this, and saw this at first hand, literally in black and white.
We also discussed how increasing overheads are making the financial viability of high street pharmacies a distinct challenge. Since 2017, Pharmacy contractors in England have seen a "real-time" reduction in remuneration of 30% resulting in many pharmacies closing and Lloyds Pharmacy disappearing off the high street.
On a brighter note, Sir Gavin was pleased to hear how the introduction of Pharmacy First by the Conservative Government in January 2024 was slowly starting to gain traction and had been positively received by all that had utilised the service. Nevertheless, we both agreed, public awareness of the scheme needs to be addressed and promoted.
Sir Gavin embraced and championed The Bank of Wellbeing. A place where competitively priced healthcare is available to all; providing healthcare services that are no longer provided by the NHS plus a plethora of other healthcare services. Patients might just not want to burden the NHS or perhaps they don't meet the NHS criteria for a certain service. We both agreed the NHS has evolved and we have to evolve with it, and this might mean some degree of financial contribution from each and everyone of us."
