Sue Sharpe, PSNC chief executive, said: ‘All three parties have work to do in setting out practical, realistic steps to improve pharmacy services commissioning. Patients should no longer be deprived of access to services with indisputable benefit to all communities.'

She welcomed primary care minister Mike O'Brien's endorsement of an expansion of pharmacy's role in improving public health.

She added: ‘Pharmacists are capable of providing stop smoking and weight management programmes, sexual-health screening and substance misuse services. They are also an ideal provider of NHS health checks, with middle-aged men being far more likely to visit a pharmacy than other NHS service providers. In some areas, they are already providing these services.'