Staff in consumer medicine jobs should be provided with support in order to help them provide services for deprived areas of the UK.
This is the view of the Company Chemists' Association (CCA), which has moved to emphasise the role that community pharmacies can play in addressing health inequalities in Britain.
It suggested that pharmacists operating in poorer areas could be provided with incentives to find members of the community who are being underserved by other healthcare professionals, reports Chemist + Druggist.
CCA chief executive Rob Darracott said: "This is a practical measure that could help to close the health inequalities gap."
He also called on the government to ensure that health issues of this kind are taken into account by all ministerial departments in their policy decisions.
It comes after the CCA stated last month that pharmacies should be given a central role in healthcare decision-making in order to allow them to contribute more significantly to wellbeing in the UK.