Policy

At PAGB, we aim to drive improvements in consumer healthcare by working with government, policy makers, NHS and regulators, as well as with our partners in the health and pharmacy sectors. Our mission is to empower more people to self-care for self-treatable conditions, and in doing so, narrow health inequalities and protect vital NHS resources by reducing the number of unnecessary GP appointments and A&E visits. We also want to create a healthy environment for industry to continue to develop innovative and effective self-care products. 

We work closely with our members to develop an industry-wide position in response to consultations and to define our core policy priorities: 

• Ensure implementation of self-care policy  
• Increase access to effective over-the-counter medicines and products 
• Empower community pharmacy to facilitate self-care 
• Improve health literacy and narrow health inequalities 
• Support people to live healthy lifestyles and prevent ill health 

We also represent our members on working groups and in regular bilateral meetings with stakeholders leading policy on medicines and devices regulation, advertising and self-care. 

Find out more below about the areas we are currently working in.

Recent highlights

Our recent highlights across our policy work include:

• The government and NHS England’s publication of the Delivery plan for recovering access to primary care which commits to 7 out of 9 recommendations that PAGB made in our self-care strategy blueprint.   
• The establishment of the Reclassification Alliance in partnership with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).  
• We commissioned and supported the delivery of the first in-depth research report detailing the economic impact of over-the-counter products in the UK.
• We undertook our largest ever consumer survey and delivered a report detailing consumer attitudes to self-care – Take care of yourself and the NHS.
• We shared a member briefing on Pharmacy First, outlining the framework, funding and implementation for the scheme.
• We created a general election toolkit to support engagement with MPs and government bodies on policy priorities ahead of the 2024 general election.
• We successfully influenced the DHSC to update their negotiation position at the United Nations’ (UN) negotiations on the World Health Organisation and UN’s draft political declaration on the use of antimicrobial products. Following this we have also created a briefing on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and consumer healthcare to support members and our engagement with key stakeholders.