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Pharmacist and Labour MP Taiwo Owatemi believes contractors deserve a funding uplift – but argues that this inward-looking sector must get better at making its case. By Arthur Walsh 

Taiwo Owatemi was recently re-elected to represent Coventry North West at Westminster, boosting what had been a tiny majority of around 200 votes to a much more decisive one of over 11,000 votes. A hospital pharmacist by profession, 32-year-old Owatemi came back early from maternity leave to fight the election and appears ready to get back into the thick of it – a far cry from the new MP who in 2019 was “shocked” by the madcap nature of political life.

“Working in the NHS, there is structure and you know what you are doing. Here it’s mayhem,” she says. As a recently appointed government whip, she will be tasked with putting some order into Labour’s operations.

What were voters telling her on their doorsteps before the election? “We heard a lot about health, particularly things like access to GPs and trying to access consultant services and surgeries, but also people’s concerns about crime and antisocial behaviour – that is a key concern due to the fact there has been an increase in the city.” Knife crime is a “big issue” that has impacted both her life and the lives of many of her constituents, she says.

Tackling inequality is a priority. “In my part of the constituency, people can see their GP in a matter of days while others wait weeks, feeling their health hasn’t been prioritised,” Owatemi says.

In fact, she was first inspired to get into politics by her experiences as a pharmacist with patients who had got a raw deal from the “postcode lottery” in healthcare.

She is particularly concerned about mental health, commenting: “The waiting lists are so long; it takes a long time to get diagnosed and see a specialist”. With demand for treatment for anxiety and depression on the rise since the pandemic, “we definitely need to address that”, she adds.

Provision challenges

What about pharmacy provision? “That has been challenging,” Owatemi replies, explaining that where pharmacies have closed in her city, it has disproportionately affected socially deprived neighbourhoods.

As a result of one Boots branch closing, with what Owatemi describes as poor communication from head office to both the affected staff and local patients, “people are travelling a long distance, and the pharmacies they are being signposted to don’t have the capacity to deal with them”.

Does she want to get those pharmacies back up and running? “I do,” she says. “The good thing is I have had conversations about replacing those pharmacies, but it takes a long time.” Owatemi continued to practise as a pharmacist all the way through the last parliament, until going on maternity leave at the end of 2023. “It allows me to focus on what I really love doing; I see it as a de-stressor,” she says.

In addition to her main role as a hospital pharmacist, she has periodically worked as a locum in the community sector. Is her background useful when health topics are raised in parliament? “It is. Working at the local hospital, I get to know what’s going on for the actual staff, not just at the chief executive level where they tell you everything is wonderful. You learn about the real impact of the decisions that are made.”

She adds: “The more I’ve got involved with politics, the more I’ve realised that you can write new ones, but the implementation will look completely different.”

How would Owatemi characterise the differences in the issues faced by the hospital and community sectors? “They are completely different worlds,” she says, explaining that issues like funding, workforce and drug supply do affect hospitals but not to the same extent as they affect high street pharmacies.

The rise in community pharmacy prescribing to bring the sector up to speed with hospital colleagues can’t come soon enough, she says: “Most hospitals have a plan for ensuring their staff are prescribers and have got the necessary team to help them with that. Community is still struggling with that; we need to get them up to date.”

She has been frustrated with politicians’ perceptions of pharmacists’ capabilities. “When we were lobbying for Pharmacy First – I had a lot of input into that – people didn’t know that I was prescribing as a hospital pharmacist, or that community pharmacists are just as equipped to deliver that level of service. A lot of people see us as dispensers and that’s where it stops.

“I think, sadly, part of the issue is that based on the sector you’re in, the level of training does differ. There has to be something in terms of unification and ensuring all pharmacists have the same level of knowledge and a clear training programme.”

She adds: “For me, the focus should be about creating pharmacy policy that allows people to easily transition in all of the different areas; that would be beneficial in terms of workforce.”

In May this year, the parliamentary health select committee, of which Owatemi was once a member, issued a report describing the community pharmacy funding model as “not fit for purpose”. What is Owatemi’s analysis of how pharmacy fared under the Conservatives?

“Sadly, this sector hasn’t been adequately funded in the last 14 years,” she says. “Speaking to previous ministers, pharmacy has historically been seen as the area in health from which you can ‘remove a bit’ to support other areas – and now you’re seeing the impact.

“We’ve had a reduction in services in recent years. Many small chains are having to shut and that impacts patients. And pharmacists are not particularly pleased with the direction their profession is going in. They want to feel valued. That involves ensuring that there is significant investment in the sector, and that is something I would personally like to see.”

Why do ministers think they can skim off the pharmacy budget? “We are a very calm profession,” Owatemi says. “Other professions would have just been out saying no. Even though pharmacy services have been cut, most of the outrage stays within the sector; it isn’t necessarily communicated beyond that. Also, ministers have seen it as a sector that has always found a way to survive – but sadly for many business owners who have poured in their savings, that’s not the case.”

Pharmacy also suffers from too much infighting, Owatemi says. “That has always been my frustration with the sector; we are very good at having internal conversations, and it’s the same voices. Sadly, we’re just not communicating. I’ve been in too many conversations where there are three different debates going on; it’s frustrating and it’s not progressive for the industry.

“The reason it is frustrating is that we do have a voice, we are influential and have a good relationship with patients, but we just don’t use those advantages. It’s something I worked on in the previous parliament and I’m hoping to build on that.”

Owatemi adds that she is “glad we’ve got another pharmacist in the house”, with community pharmacist Sadik Al-Hassan having won North Somerset for Labour from the Conservatives. How should the sector change up its negotiation tactics for the better? “I’d like to see an approach that really takes into account the impact of funding on smaller businesses,” says Owatemi.

“The multiples play an important role and their views should obviously be prioritised, but that doesn’t mean that we have to prioritise it while impacting smaller community pharmacies.”

Streeting’s plans

Health secretary Wes Streeting has appointed four ministers to his department, with Aberafan Maesteg MP Stephen Kinnock taking on the primary care brief. Is it peculiar to have an MP for a Welsh constituency acting on behalf of English pharmacies? “I think there are good things about the Welsh model that people can learn from,” says Owatemi. “I know Stephen is passionate about the sector and has had time to read up and understand it, and I’m sure he will deliver.” She will personally be “making sure that he understands the key issues,” she says.

Does Owatemi hold any ministerial ambitions herself? She replies coyly: “You never know – you just have to wait and see.”

Streeting has spoken about the pharmacy sector in positive terms on various occasions, but has revealed little as far as specific commitments go. The most concrete policy has been a manifesto pledge to launch a Community Pharmacist Prescribing Service – presumably an evolution of Pharmacy First. What does Owatemi think the prescribing service should look like?

“We’re still in the early days, and I have heard different views,” she says. “I know some organisations are pushing to have pharmacy clinic groups made up of specialists in areas like dermatology or cardiology who can run their own clinics and take some of that pressure off GPs and hospitals.”

Does she believe that prescribing should be based on specialisation? “I would like to see more freedom in the way we prescribe,” says Owatemi. “I think there has to be a degree of flexibility. I’m not asking for everyone to prescribe specialist meds, but I do think there has to be an appreciation of our training and how much knowledge we have. When you look at the top 100 drugs, we’ve all dealt with them and know how to prescribe them. There should be an understanding of that.” She adds that Pharmacy First is “just a stepping stone”.

Sector funding

The other big issue in the sector is funding, which Owatemi acknowledges as inadequate. Asked if she believes the 2015 funding cuts should be reversed, she declines to answer either way, presumably conscious that chancellor Rachel Reeves is not in a hurry to write blank cheques.

Instead, Owatemi simply says: “I would like to see more money for the sector – I’m a huge fan of that.” When I interviewed Owatemi in the middle of July, Streeting had already met with GP representatives – his first big photocall as Health Secretary – and held talks with the British Dental Association to kick off negotiations for a new contract for dentists. Streeting has said he will take billions out of the hospital budget to boost primary care funding, but at the time of this edition of P3Pharmacy going to press, he does not appear to have met with Community Pharmacy England or confirmed how much – if any – of these diverted funds will go to pharmacy. I ask Owatemi what level of engagement the sector can expect from him.

“Historically, Wes Streeting has met with all the pharmacy organisations,” she says. And since the election? “That’s something I would have to check with him. But I’m sure he will, and I know how much he values the sector; he definitely prioritises it. CPE has been very effective in ensuring its key priorities are communicated.”

Owatemi bats away a question about how happy hospital chiefs will be to see their coffers plundered. “Hospitals are already struggling with the amount of people coming in. If we don’t prioritise primary care and prevention then it will only get worse.”

Asked how she would like to see the pharmacy sector evolve during Labour’s five-year term, she replies: “Five years is a long time, and there is so much happening in the sector.”

Better funding and getting a grip on medicines shortages come high on the list, as do “smaller things” like progressing supervision reform – “let’s get to the end of that debate” – and addressing the impact online pharmacies have on the bricks-and-mortar network.

On a more personal note, Owatemi says: “I would like to go back to the days when I saw pharmacists who loved their job and were not under overwhelming stress. I’ve seen too many pharmacists retiring and giving up. We love what we do and we care about our patients; we want to go on doing it. I would like to see a proper legacy for the profession.”

Criticism of wholesalers

Owatemi describes worsening drugs shortages as “frustrating”, commenting that “every pharmacist” has had the experience of telling a patient their medicine can’t be sourced. She believes Brexit has played a key role but also calls for a serious review of the UK’s drug buying policies.

“Sadly, the sector has been saying this for a long time,” she says. “This is about working with manufacturers – predominantly generics companies – and ensuring we have a good supply chain. The model we are working from dates from the Tony Blair days and needs to be updated; the only way companies will continue investing in life sciences is if it’s profitable for them. Some companies are considering pulling out of the market.”

Last September, Owatemi made interesting comments in the House of Commons about the impact that “middlemen” drug distributors may be having on prices and shortages. What role does she believe wholesalers play? “Historically, they’ve profited from being able to control the supply chain to a certain extent,” she says.

“They know how desperate people will get for their medication and how much pharmacies are willing to pay for it – but sadly it’s leaving many pharmacies unable to get that money back, which impacts their finances.

“We need to start really looking at it because for many pharmacists who truly care for their patients, they are being penalised; people are trying to take more money from the sector than it has. If we don’t get a hold on that, we don’t know what the future will be.”

Owatemi adds: “It’s complicated because both big and small companies are involved.” Does the situation call for stronger regulations? “I think the regulators would say they’re doing all they could to address this. The challenge is how do you regulate it without being seen to be policing the system? You also need to take into account the fact that people will always find a way to game the system.”