Secretary of State launches national conversation on health service
The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has this week launched a national conversation on the NHS, seeking input and ideas to shape the future of a reformed health service.
Patients, members of the public and anyone working in the NHS have been invited to submit their views and ideas via the change.nhs.uk portal.
Alongside this national conversation, organisations across health and social care policy are being invited to submit their views and ideas via formal submission documents. A series of policy working groups have also been set up to explore four key ambitions for healthcare, with other working groups exploring the various enablers for change that are needed.
Community Pharmacy England has attended stakeholder briefings and had an initial meeting with the NHS 10-year plan team (which sits in the Department of Health and Social Care). We anticipate that we will be asked to submit evidence to a number of working groups, whether formally or informally.
The Committee will consider its initial formal submission to the NHS plan at its November meeting, and we will also soon issue advice to LPCs and pharmacy owners on how the sector can best engage with the public conversation on the NHS plan.
Alongside this, we will continue work to engage with policy experts and advocates who are sitting on the NHS plan working groups throughout the process.
The NHS plan is being developed by a team working across the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England. The plan is looking for visionary policy ideas for the future and it will feed into future Government Spending Reviews, but at the moment is separate from the budgetary process for Government.
Community Pharmacy England’s work to influence fiscal policy, including via our economic projects, Parliamentary work and work to influence the new Government’s Health Mission (which is an effort working across Government departments) will also continue.
Community Pharmacy England Chief Executive Janet Morrison said:
“The Secretary of State’s plan for the NHS is vitally important to everyone working in the health service, and it could not come at a more critical time for community pharmacies, who are in an ever-more precarious position.
“The development of the plan is going to happen at pace, and we will be working at all levels to ensure that community pharmacy’s voice is heard loudly and clearly. That will mean being absolutely clear about the very desperate position that the sector now finds itself in, but also showcasing everything that community pharmacies have to offer. This is a dynamic, innovative, patient-focused sector, whose accessibility and efficiency is unrivalled across the health service: community pharmacy has so much to offer if it can be put on a sustainable footing.
“We will be drawing on the community pharmacy vision developed by Nuffield Trust and The King’s Fund in our submission to the NHS plan team, as well as on our comprehensive economic work. Tying in with our wider work to continue to influence Government policy and fiscal decisions, we will work to ensure that those working on the NHS plan see community pharmacy as an integral part of the solution to some of the challenges that the NHS faces, and understand the value of investing in this sector. We will look 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.”