Our latest self-care activity
Find out about the latest activity from PAGB and our current areas of focus to promote self-care.
Influencing a new government
With a general election fast approaching, PAGB has been engaging with parties from across the political spectrum to keep the self-care high on the political agenda. We have developed an election toolkit and a self-care manifesto which details PAGB’s key asks:
Self-care manifesto
Ahead of the general election, we are keen to meet with all parties to share our expertise in the areas of self-care that we outline in our manifesto and ensure that self-care is considered and incorporated into all planning on how we solve the challenges facing primary care within the NHS going forward. Read our Self-Care Manifesto to find out more about our calls to a future Government. In short, these include:
Improve patient awareness and confidence in self-care
Leverage digital tools to better support and promote self-care
Create a supportive self-care environment, empowering community pharmacies to promote self-care
Election toolkit
We have also developed an Election Toolkit to support our members with their engagement with MPs, government bodies and prospective parliamentary candidates on policy priorities. The toolkit outlines the case for prioritising self-care, highlighting public interest, the cost savings to the NHS and the economic benefits of the over-the-counter (OTC) sector.
It puts forward recommendations on behalf of the consumer healthcare industry on how to realise the potential of self-care and create a supportive environment to best implement self-care and ‘Delivery plan for recovering access to primary care’.
Read our Election Toolkit. Tailored party specific Toolkits are also available in the members area.
The key asks outlined include:
To fully integrate pharmacy’s role in primary care
For the UK to remain a leader in reclassification
To recognise the OTC sector as a cornerstone of the UK life sciences sector
To ensure an attractive regulatory environment for the UK OTC sector
Implementing self-care policy
In May 2023, the Government and NHS England published the ‘Delivery plan for recovering access to primary care’. As a direct result of our work with the Self-Care Strategy Group, the plan includes self-care policies which seek to empower people by rolling out tools they can use to manage their own health.
We are working with the Self-Care Strategy Group to ensure the implementation of the commitments in the plan. Together we have developed a number of tools to help support the Government and NHS England to deliver these self-care policies.
Supporting the implementation of the Government’s delivery plan for recovering primary care
In this implementation guide the Self-Care Strategy Group details three tests which all self-care policies in the ‘Delivery plan for recovering access to primary care should consider’:
1. Does it improve patient access and patient outcomes to primary care?
2. Does it lessen health inequalities in the system?
3. Does it empower patients?
It has been disseminated, along with meeting requests, to key Government and NHS England stakeholders. We have already made significant progress, with a successful meeting taking place between CEO, Michelle Riddalls and health minister, Andrea Leadsom.
Taking stock of the Government’s delivery plan for recovering primary care: One-year-on review
The review from the Self-Care Strategy Group focuses on:
1. Progress to date, looking at how the policies that have been implemented are positively impacting people’s ability to self-care and helping to relieve pressure on primary care.
2. Existing areas for improvement where further progress could be made to support or encourage full implementation of the Delivery plan’s commitments on self-care.
3. Recommendations and actionable steps that the Government and NHS England should take to build upon the Delivery plan’s commitments to effectively support self-care and improve access to primary care.
Self-care stakeholder engagement
PAGB’s work on self-care has helped us to forge close working relationships with leading pharmacy organisations within the Self-Care Strategy Group. We have also proactively shared our key policy asks with policymakers, parliamentarians and officials within NHS.
Notable meetings in 2024 include meetings with: Rt Hon Dame Andrea Leadsom, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Public Health, Start for Life and Primary Care; Wes Streeting, Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care; Rushanara Ali, Shadow Minister for Investment and Small Business; and Jim Shannon, Democratic Unionist Party’s Health Spokesperson.
Consumer attitudes to self-care
Every year PAGB undertakes a survey to understand consumer attitudes and confidence to self-care. The data from the survey is used to inform our self-care report and this year our survey results were published on International Self-Care Day, 24 July.
Conducting this yearly census to uncover consumer trends in self-treatable conditions, attitudes to self-care, and healthcare access provides us with valuable information and insights into how self-care can be integrated into the recovery of primary care in a real way that resonates with consumers.
The report highlights the real-world data that makes the case for prioritising self-care and identifies the benefits it can provide by reducing demand on the NHS, reducing health inequalities among the public, and empowering people to take ownership of their own health.
Self-care on the frontline
PAGB is looking to widen its influence among Integrated Care Services (ICSs) – local partnerships that bring health and care organisations together to develop shared plans and joined-up services – and build relationships with stakeholders directly involved in supporting self-care across the country.
Our objectives for this project are to:
- Uncover examples of best practice for supporting self-care among ICSs.
- Highlight how ICSs can improve the support they provide for self-care.
- Position PAGB as a thought-leader on self-care among local level stakeholders .