Integration, localism and prevention key to building a future-fit NHS
Politicians and policy experts have cited integration, localism and prevention as some of the core components required to build a future-fit NHS.
The themes have been identified in a written report on Community Pharmacy England’s series of policy events at this year’s political party conferences. The discussions concluded that community pharmacy, in particular, is foundational to the Government’s ambition to deliver a community-centric, future-fit NHS.
The bespoke event series hosted by Re:State in partnership with Community Pharmacy England across Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat party conferences explored what it means to build a community-centric, future-fit NHS.
Across the three events, senior speakers were joined in discussion with sector leaders. At Labour Party Conference, Stephen Kinnock MP, Minister for Care; and Sarah Woolnough, Chief Executive of The King’s Fund, spoke on the panel. Dr Luke Evans MP, Shadow Minister for Health and Social Care, and Helen Morgan MP, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Health and Social Care, led roundtable discussions at the Conservative and Liberal Democrat Conferences respectively.
As highlighted in the report, community pharmacy already delivers vaccination programmes, health checks and screenings, medicines expertise, management of minor ailments, and preventative health services such as smoking cessation and weight management. Plus pharmacies are conveniently located and widely accessible for patients across the country.
Supporting community pharmacy to flourish is therefore crucial to achieving the Government’s three healthcare shifts: from hospital to community, analogue to digital, and sickness to prevention.
The publication of this report today continues Community Pharmacy England’s engagement with political influencers, Government and other health bodies. Work continues to disseminate the findings outlined in the report and to demonstrate the compelling investment case for community pharmacy, as well as collaborative working across primary care to Government.
In the report, Janet Morrison, Chief Executive of Community Pharmacy England, said:
“As the NHS starts work to implement the 10 Year Health Plan we wanted to bring politicians and policy experts together to discuss the way ahead and are grateful to Re:State for convening these events.
Integration, local flexibility and the alignment of incentives are all important building blocks for the future so it was no surprise to see these issues featuring prominently in the discussions. The shared ambition to improve healthcare for the benefit of patients also came out loudly and clearly, and there was a renewed energy for moving care closer to home and driving a prevention agenda: two things that the community pharmacy sector has been at the forefront of for some time. Community pharmacies are accessible and highly valued by the public, and can relieve pressure on other frontline NHS services, including general practice. There is much potential for us to do more.
But in amongst all the talk of building a future-fit NHS, it was also acknowledged that there are some real barriers to overcome first, and that all primary care providers – including community pharmacies – are in need of critical financial and operational enablers to help them to deliver the 10 Year Health Plan’s ambitions.”
Further details of the individual events can be found here:
