THE Labour candidate for Stroud David Drew paid a visit to a pharmacy in Dursley as part of their national campaign to promote their role in the high street.

The Community Pharmacy Manifesto campaign aims to encourage politicians to understand the role the pharmacy plays in the wider health care system.

Mr Drew dropped into the Cooperative Pharmacy in Parsonage Street and spoke to managers and staff about the ins and outs of the modern community pharmacy.

The manifesto, intended to put community pharmacy at the heart of healthcare delivery in primary care, was launched at the House of Commons in December, 2014, by Rt Hon Sir Kevin Barron MP, chairman of the All Party Pharmacy Group, and calls for politicians to sign up to five key pledges.

The pledges include encouraging people to think ‘pharmacy first’, improving public help with the services the pharmacy can provide and making it easier for pharmacies to commission services.

Sarah Whelan, the pharmacist and manager of the pharmacy, gave Mr Drew a guided tour of the pharmacy along with community pharmacy champion Eve Beech while talking about developments it and other similar pharmacies have made in recent years.

Healthcare and the NHS play a fundamental role in the Labour party’s election campaign and, on a local level, Mr Drew’s own drive for re-election in the Stroud district.

He said: “It’s good to catch up with pharmacies because they tend to get marginalised, even though for many people in the community the pharmacy acts as their entrance into health care.

“The work carried out by pharmacies is something that’s going to have to increase to reduce the pressures on GPs and accident and emergency.

“They play an important role because people that may not wish to see a GP or feel their GP doesn’t have time for something can come into this environment – which is more like a shop than a surgery.

“It’s a different aspect of healthcare and the role it plays is no less important than that played by GPs and A&E.”

For more information on the Community Pharmacy Manifesto visit www.pharmacymanifesto.com.