Pharmacy in Place
The Future for Community Pharmacy in Integrated Care Systems
The Community Pharmacy sector is an integral part of the NHS and provides a wide range of services that improves people’s health, ensures their safety and wellbeing and saves the NHS money and resources that can be used to support other parts of the health and social care system. As the NHS moves into a new era with Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) due to become statutory bodies from April 2022, the time is right to consider how Community Pharmacies can support ICSs to deliver the objectives of the NHS Long Term Plan and help the NHS to restore and recover services as we move out of the current pandemic.
We have seen in the last year how much more can be achieved through collaboration and there is now a widespread commitment to not losing the gains on integration that have been made. Recovering from the pandemic and restoring services will be amongst the top priorities for the health and care service and integrating the Community Pharmacy sector more strongly into local health care systems will be an essential building block for achieving this.
There have been many attempts to do this going back to government’s White Paper in 2008, which set out a plan for Community Pharmacy to expand its clinical service offer (Department of Health, 2008). There has also been numerous reviews, visions and future plans for Community Pharmacy that have sought to realise that ambition and put Community Pharmacy on a secure foundation from which it can fulfil its promise. For example:
- The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) vision in 2012
- The Murray review of Community Pharmacy (2016)
- The International Pharmaceutical Federation’s vision in 2020
- The Pharmaceutical Group of the European Union (PGEU) vision for 2030
Now is not the time for more visions or good words, this is a time for action. It is imperative that government, NHS England and NHS Improvement and ICSs work collaboratively with Community Pharmacy leaders to address the structural placement of Community Pharmacy on a sustainable basis. While that imperative must address the funding and commissioning barriers, this is not solely a commercial problem; it is also an opportunity for Community Pharmacy to help deliver on the current policy agenda for service transformation and reducing health inequalities.
READ THE FULL REPORT
To read the full report and to download a copy of the pdf please click on the link below.
IN THE MEDIA
‘Community pharmacy plays pivotal role in evolving health and social care landscape’ – Pharmacy Business, 1st September 2021
Footage from the Event
Report Authors
Dr Jon Bashford
George Evans-Jones
Nic Werran
Breaking Barriers Innovations are grateful to all the respondents who contributed their time in helping to inform this review. We also gratefully acknowledge the support of two leading Community Pharmacy groups, Day Lewis and Delmergate, who have helped guide the work and contributed their knowledge and understanding about the issue facing the sector and the widespread commitment to findings solutions to the challenges that they face.
