Croydon’s pharmacies saved after Labour campaign
The Tory Government has been forced into a u-turn on planned cuts which would have seen local pharmacies close and others cutting back on staff and services.
Earlier this year the Government announced plans to slash pharmacy funding by £170 million. Steve met with local pharmacists in Croydon North to hear how some pharmacies would face closure while others would have to stop home deliveries of medicines to extremely sick patients or halt giving advice on minor ailments across the counter, a service that eases the pressure on local GPs.
Steve organised a letter from pharmacists across Croydon North calling on the Government to rethink their dangerous plans. Now a shame-faced Tory minister has announced the plans will be shelved.
Steve Reed MP said:
People in Croydon North depend on pharmacists for advice and care. These cuts would have left our pharmacies struggling to provide the basic service and support our community needs.
Our local campaign has helped force the Government into a humiliating u-turn and I welcome that. They must now go further and commit to fully protecting all other community health services which are still at risk from the Government’s underfunding of the NHS.
Steven Reed is Labour MP for Croydon North and Shadow Minister for Children and Families. In 2018 his private member’s bill on reducing violent mental health restraint became law. In June 2019 he launched Labour’s civil society strategy outlining radical plans to empower citizens and communities.
Steve chairs the Cooperative Councils Innovation Network, co-chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group for London, was Leader of Lambeth Council 2006-12 where he led the council’s children’s services to become best-rated in the country and pioneered the public-health approach to tackling violent youth crime. He worked in publishing for 16 years and was an elected trade union branch secretary.