Community Pharmacy England submits proposals for NHS 10-Year Plan
Community Pharmacy England has made a submission to the Government’s development of a 10-year Health Plan for the NHS, highlighting the benefits of increased commissioning of pharmacy services in tandem with addressing the sector’s current funding gap.
In October, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care launched a national conversation on the NHS, seeking input and ideas to shape the future of a reformed health service via the change.nhs.uk portal. Healthcare organisations, including Community Pharmacy England, were also invited to make formal submissions.
In our response, we describe how the community pharmacy network could be put to greater use to meet the needs of patients and the public. The NHS of tomorrow must capitalise on pharmacy’s potential to help identify people with undiagnosed conditions and support behaviour changes to reduce the future likelihood of ill health. As well as showcasing all the work that pharmacies are already doing and positive public opinions on the services they provide, we have also made the case for change.
However, our submission also clearly highlights how community pharmacy is lagging behind funding uplifts given to the rest of the NHS and how pharmacy teams have long since reached their workload capacity. Economic stabilisation of the sector, making Pharmacy First a walk-in service, and regulatory changes to enable pharmacists to better deal with medicines shortages have therefore been identified as quick (and crucial) ways to begin to improve the situation.
While deliberating our response, the Committee’s considerations were supplemented and informed by similar discussions at the LPC Conference and polling of pharmacy owners during two webinars. The recommendations also draw heavily from the Vision for Community Pharmacy developed for us by the Nuffield Trust and The King’s Fund – which has been developed into our latest service development proposals – as well as re-iterating much of the statistical evidence presented in our Darzi Review submission.
In summary, Community Pharmacy England’s primary proposals are to:
- Put community pharmacies at the centre of delivery of the Government’s primary care priorities;
- Invest in the long-term stability of the community pharmacy sector;
- Halt pharmacy closures;
- Ensure a supportive regulatory structure;
- Commission further services in community pharmacies; and
- Commission services in a way that encourages collaboration across primary care and beyond.
Read Community Pharmacy England’s submission
Janet Morrison, Chief Executive of Community Pharmacy England, said:
“The Secretary of State’s development of a plan for the NHS is vitally important, and it could not have come at a more critical time for community pharmacies, who are in an ever-more precarious position.
“Our overarching aim is to see increased commissioning of pharmacy services for the benefit of patients, the public and the wider NHS. But this cannot happen without first resolving the critical need for investment in community pharmacies, as well as a more supportive regulatory structure and better collaboration across the whole health service.
“It is paramount that the NHS of tomorrow capitalises on community pharmacy’s USP – easily accessible healthcare advice and treatment close to where people live, shop and work – to help meet the Government’s ambition to shift the focus of healthcare towards prevention.
“We will continue to work collaboratively both across and beyond the sector to make the most of this and all opportunities to help shape the future of community pharmacy.”
Further responses
Many of the national community pharmacy bodies have submitted responses to the NHS Plan consultation and we are aligned in our view that community pharmacies have much to offer the future health service, if they can put them on a sustainable footing. We were pleased to jointly write to the Secretary of State on this last month.
Community Pharmacy England has also been liaising with our network of advocates to coordinate responses that contain positive pharmacy messages, including LPCs, other primary care bodies, medicines suppliers, health charities and patient groups.
Working with our colleagues in the other primary care representative organisations (general practice, dentistry, eye care and audiology), we led the drafting of a joint response to the consultation which provides a pan-primary care perspective on how we can support the three shifts that the Government has identified for change. This submission notes that urgent action is needed to prioritise primary care, rebalancing investments to rebuild and expand on this core foundation of the health system.
The change.nhs.uk portal remains open for individuals to share their views, and pharmacy owners or team members may want to help reinforce the sector’s messages by making their own submissions.
