A policy brief, developed by researchers from the University of Bath and University of Strathclyde with funding from Sigma Pharmaceuticals, has recommended
the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and NHS to increase community pharmacy funding to avoid damaging closures and diminution of quality.
The report launched on Wednesday (12 June) at an event in the House of Commons, attended by Members of Parliament, senior policymakers and the pharmacy industry,
analysed community pharmacy policies and spoke to stakeholders to explore their opinions of the future of community pharmacy.
It was found that patients value their community pharmacies, but staff feel demotivated, insecure and undervalued.
Stakeholders and policies suggested that in the future, medicines should be supplied by automated 'hub and spoke' dispensing, enabling community pharmacy staff to
provide services that relieve pressure on GP surgeries, such as long-term conditions management, urgent care and public health.
Since the introduction of the 2019 NHS Long-Term Plan, several policy commitments have surfaced, presenting a definitive 'blueprint' for community pharmacy
in England. The Company Chemists Association has identified four crucial commitments that, when integrated, hold the potential to revolutionise patient care
through community pharmacies.
"Each commitment is like a crucial piece of a puzzle," CCA said. "For the transformation of patient access through community pharmacy to be successful, all these
pieces must come together harmoniously. Otherwise, the picture will remain incomplete."
The four major pieces of the puzzle coined by CCA include:
* Building on education and training reforms to increase the size and capability of the workforce.
* Expanding the number of clinical services commissioned and delivered in community pharmacy.
* Introducing digital enablers which underpin service delivery.
* Introducing legislative changes to increase capacity and allow the delivery of more patient-facing clinical care.
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The pharmacy inquiry will explore issues impacting different types of pharmacy, with a particular focus on community, primary care and hospital pharmacy
services.
It will also consider current challenges around funding, workforce and the digital infrastructure.
Planned developments within the profession will enable future pharmacists to be independent prescribers from day one of registration, giving them a greater role
within primary care teams.
Health and Social Care Committee Chair Steve Brine MP said: "It is clear that pharmacy has a central role to play in the future of the NHS. With a greater focus on
personalised and patient-centred healthcare, we will be asking what more must be done to make sure that the profession is in the best shape to meet demand.
"Better use of the pharmacy workforce would reduce pressures on general practice and hospitals. However, this will not happen without a planned workforce with the
funding, supervision and training to support it.
"At the end of the inquiry, the committee will be making recommendations to the government on what action needs to be taken to ensure the potential of pharmacy is
realised.
The International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) has issued a new policy statement which encourages a "life-course" approach to vaccination by pharmacists.
In the statement, published on September 27, FIP backed expansion of vaccine schedules and strategies so that patients of all age groups could be vaccinated
throughout their entire lifespan, from infancy to old age.
A life-course approach in public health and healthcare focuses on an individual's health and well-being, including vaccination, administered throughout their
entire lifespan, from infancy to old age.
FIP urged governments and policymakers to eliminate regulatory barriers, enabling pharmacists to prescribe and administer all relevant vaccines throughout the
life-course. Additionally, FIP recommended that policymakers develop remuneration models for pharmacies to deliver sustainable life-course vaccination services
within the private and public sectors.
The National Health Service said that over 425,000 patients have utilised its new national online service to complete GP registration within its inaugural year.
The GP surgery registration service, managed by NHS England, has granted NHS patients efficient and user-friendly access to GP registration since its inception in
August 2022.
According to the NHS, more than 1,400 GP surgeries, a fifth of the national count, have joined the NHS online registration service as part of a new plan to improve
access to primary care. "This aligns with a new strategy to enhance primary care access, with a target of enrolling 2,000 practices in the Register with a GP
surgery service by December 2023."
Many GP surgeries still use paper forms, requiring patients to visit surgeries to collect paperwork. However, the new online service has been shown to save GP
surgery staff up to 15 minutes per registration by helping to reduce paperwork and admin time, the NHS said.
The NHS said that this service enables patients to register with a local GP online at any time, eliminating the need for in-person visits and simplifying the
process for both patients and GP surgeries.
Consumer health company Haleon, formerly known as GSK, claims that pain's emotional and life impact has grown by nearly 25 per cent in the past decade.
The company has launched a campaign #ListenToPain to personalise patients' pain management through a series of practical tools and resources.
The campaign was introduced on 28 September which focused on enabling the HCPs to maximise their time with patients and understand their pain experience - providing
them with an effective treatment plan.
The new data has been obtained through the fifth edition of the Haleon Pain Index (HPI). This social study measured the impact of individuals' everyday lives,
their
health, their feelings, their emotions, motivations and behaviours.
They have spoken to more than 87,000 people around the world since their first edition in 2014 - HPI 1 (The State of Pain), which later progressed over the years
from HPI 2 (Impact of Pain) in 2017, then HPI 3 (Managing Pain) in 2018, to HPI 4 (Treatment Journey), and finally HPI 5 (Pain and Inclusivity) in 2023.
Bristol-based Titan PMR, a technology firm specialising in PMR systems for community pharmacies, is set to roll out an innovative platform named 'Titanverse,'
that it claims will redefine pharmacy management, offering comprehensive solutions extending beyond prescription management.
This new platform takes a versatile approach, efficiently managing all facets of pharmacy operations, from high-level management down to daily tasks, according to
top company officials.
"Our aim is to reshape pharmacies into genuine health hubs, providing advanced services and harnessing state-of-the-art technologies," said Tariq Muhammad, CEO of
Titan PMR. "Titanverse, our latest offering, is positioned to ignite this transformation, revolutionising clinical services in the same way its predecessor
revolutionised dispensing. With Titanverse, we have the vehicle to drive this vision forward, placing pharmacies at the forefront of primary care in the future."
Titanverse adopts a Teams approach, catering to pharmacies with multiple locations or specific focuses. It furnishes real-time analytics and employs a color-coded
rating system for swift performance evaluation.
Moreover, the platform eases operations by enabling task delegation, encompassing clinical checks and dispensing, all while backing private services with adaptable
templates and workflows.
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) Director for Scotland, Clare Morrison will be joining NHS Scotland in January.
Morrison has been appointed Director of Community Engagement at Healthcare Improvement Scotland.
Paul Bennett, RPS CEO said: "Many people, particularly in Scotland, will know of Clare's passion for quality improvement and patient involvement in the co-design
of services. This was demonstrated through her previous work on the development of Near Me, NHS Scotland's video consulting service, and its co-design with the
public, patients, clinicians and NHS staff which gained international recognition from the Institute for Healthcare Improvement.
"Therefore, this is an exciting opportunity for Clare to join Healthcare Improvement Scotland to take on a strategic leadership role in supporting effective community
engagement across health and social care in Scotland. It also enables Clare to make even greater use of her training as an NHS Scotland Scottish Quality & Safety
Fellow and we wish her every success in her new role.
The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) has invited pharmacy contractors, LPCs and others in the sector to share their views on an open
consultation on the "future of community pharmacy".
"The consultation - which takes the form of an online survey - is the first opportunity within PSNC's vision project for individuals and organisations to share
their thoughts with Nuffield Trust and The King's Fund," said PSNC.
The survey is happening in addition to an extensive programme of research, interviews and initial meetings of the vision Steering Group, Advisory Panel, and Working
Groups, all of which have contractors, LPCs and other representatives of the sector at their heart.
The online survey, asks five questions on topics such as Future policy goals; Why previous reviews and policies may not have fully achieved their objectives; Design
principles that should underpin the service offer made by community pharmacy; and Blocks and enablers for change.
Growing up with a family that worked in pharmacy, our dinner time conversation was not like that of other families. Ours would centre around medicines,
prescriptions, and the health challenges within our local community.
I quickly came to understand the importance of the role played by community pharmacists. So I can't help but be concerned that the current direction being taken by
digital health innovation threatens to leave community pharmacies behind.
Whilst it is brilliant that patients can easily access their prescriptions through the rise of online pharmacies, many of these cut out the vital knowledge and
expertise of local community pharmacists, and threaten to end the traditional close ties between local community pharmacists and their patients.
Nine out of 10 NHS users believe that pharmacists play an unrivalled role when it comes to keeping patients in the community safe. We must ensure that digital health
does not replace this important source of advice for health problems and injuries, but instead preserves and enhances this vital, personal role and enables
pharmacists to continue delivering care in new and effective ways.
A vital connection with patients
Community pharmacies provide crucial support to local patients with managing their medicines safely, particularly older and more vulnerable people. The specific
expertise and knowledge held by pharmacists can help inform the long-term management of a patient's condition and ensure they are kept safe from potential side
effects and complications.
The International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) in a report of a meeting of an international insight board published on Friday (27 January) highlighted the
potential for pharmacists to close the existing gender gap in pain management.
The insight board, assembled by FIP in Seville, Spain, in September 2022, was co-chaired by FIP vice president Professor Parisa Aslani. "Research indicates that pain
experienced by women is underestimated and undertreated. Alarmingly, in addition to receiving less effective pain relief, evidence suggests that women with pain are
more likely to be prescribed antidepressants," Prof. Aslani said.
The insight board attributed much of this "gender pain gap" to implicit biases and put forward the view that pharmacy curricula and continuous professional
development programmes must be able to provide adequate self-awareness and training to enable pain management without any bias. It also suggested ways in which
pharmacists could be supported in addressing the gender pain gap in their practice.
The Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) has submitted a 17-page contribution to the commission on the future of pharmacy professional leadership and
encourages pharmacists to engage in the overall discussion.
The association wants to ensure that the voice of its members is heard in the discussions about the future of professional leadership, which has been initiated by
the four government Chief Pharmaceutical Officers.
The PDA has published its first formal contribution to the commission, in its response it raised concern on the current exercise is being rushed and a call for the
review to be conducted in a more sensible timeframe, one which enables the engagement of the whole profession.
It has urged on being supportive of the creation of a Royal College of Pharmacists to take custodianship of the training and education for pharmacists and to set the
requisite standards, whilst still relying upon the profession's regulators to undertake the accreditation role.
The country as a whole is facing uncertain and challenging times, and for our profession emerging from the second year of the pandemic, the pressures and
stresses don't look to be easing up. It is undeniable that the wellbeing of those in our pharmacy family has suffered and many face emotional and psychological
challenges in addition to immense workplace pressure.
What do we know about the state of wellbeing within the profession? As the profession's independent charity, it is crucial that Pharmacist Support keeps abreast of
the changing needs of the profession to enable us to meet the needs of those we are here to help. To do this, each year we collaborate with the Royal Pharmaceutical
Society (RPS) to carry out an annual Workforce Wellbeing Survey.
The last survey carried out was in the latter part of 2021 but nothing has changed since. And the results provided stark reading. Of the 1,014 responses received,
many reported living with 'poor' or 'very poor' mental health and wellbeing.
The survey results highlight a continued clear need for mental health and wellbeing support. Within the survey, it was identified that there is a very clear need for
independent assistance, with many saying they feel unable to talk to their employers about their mental health issues. The need for our charity has never been clearer.
Community pharmacy bodies have said that the current crippling financial pressures and severe staff shortages will limit the sector from fully supporting the
new health secretary's ambition to improve patient care in England.
Thérèse Coffey announced her plans on Thursday (September 22) which would be looking to reduce the country's reliance on general practice by expanding the range of
services available from community pharmacies and allowing pharmacists more "prescribing powers".
"Pharmacists will be able to manage and supply more medicines, without a prescription from a GP. We will look to go further on enabling pharmacists with more
prescribing powers and making more simple diagnostic tests available in community pharmacy," she said in her foreword to Our Plan for Patients.
However, the National Pharmacy Association has lamented that the plan stops short of promising any fresh funding for community pharmacies to deliver patient care
and develop clinical services.
NPA vice-chair, Nick Kaye, said: "The life is being choked out of independent pharmacy businesses by the continuation of a fundamentally under-resourced contract
in England.
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) Scotland the BMA's Scottish GP Committee has called for improvements to the pharmacotherapy service.
The joint statement released by the organisations on Friday (13 January), has recognised that much progress has been made but states that further improvements are
needed to fully maximise the benefits of the service.
It highlighted the need for better use of skill mix, including more clearly defining roles and responsibilities; improved IT enablers to reduce administrative burden;
and further developing a tandem model of working comprising hubs with in-practice activity
The two organisations state that inadequate funding and workforce shortages are a real threat to the pharmacotherapy service.
They have urge Scottish Government to reconsider its recent decision to reduce funding for training pharmacy technicians.
Clare Morrison, RPS Director for Scotland, said: "In the statement, we stress that the use of pharmacists' clinical skills must be maximised.
A new report based on research from pharmacists across England by Sanofi, has called for the introduction of a 'national self-care strategy' to relieve the
burden currently faced by health services.
The new report, titled 'Driving a self-care revolution in the UK', explores the views of pharmacists, patients and doctors on self-care and the support needed to
deliver it more effectively. While self-care policy measures are estimated to increase monetary savings for healthcare systems and national economies by 16%, this
report highlights the right tools and resources are not yet in place to enable pharmacists to play a greater role in delivering self-care advice and medicines to
patients.
"As many as 77% of pharmacists said they would support the creation of a National Self-Care Strategy to provide national leadership on improving understanding of
self-care and encourage its use among both patients and clinicians," the report said.
According to the report, currently, 33% of pharmacists working for independent or small pharmacy chains do not have the resources to support patients with self-care,
alongside their other roles. "To tackle this, close to half (45%) of pharmacists believe greater emphasis by primary care practitioners on the benefits of self-care
would leave pharmacists in a better place to support patients. Similarly, 42% believe that training and recruiting more pharmacists would improve their capacity to
deliver self-care advice."
The UK Commission on Pharmacy Professional Leadership set up by the Chief Pharmaceutical Officers of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales has published
its recommendations for the 'future of pharmacy professional leadership in the UK' on Monday (6 February).
The Commission is co-chaired by Nigel Clarke, Former Chair of the General Pharmaceutical Council, and Professor Dame Jane Dacre, Professor of Medical Education at
University College London Medical School.
The Commission proposes that closer collaboration between professional leadership bodies and specialist professional groups as part of a Pharmacy Leadership Council
will enable and support pharmacists and pharmacy technicians to meet the opportunities and challenges ahead.
The Council will be set up in 2023 to lead the implementation of the report's vision and recommendations over five years.
Commission Co-Chairs, Professor Dame Jane Dacre and Nigel Clarke: "The Commission has set out a collaborative approach to transform pharmacy professional leadership
and deliver sustained benefits for patients and the public and pharmacy professionals in the UK.
The Competition and Market Authority (CMA) has suggested regulatory levers to curb "potential competition risk" from hub and spoke dispensing.
In its response to the hub and spoke dispensing consultation, led by the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) last week, the competition watchdog said that
a pro-active approach to monitoring the effect of hub and spoke dispensing and subsequent early consideration of any competition concerns was likely to be more
effective and potentially less costly than any "ex-post enforcement any ex-post enforcement or unpicking of subsequently embedded competition issues".
The competition watchdog has made a few suggestions to identify and remove the barriers to competition that might emerge with the new business models entering the
market. It has asked the department to enable a "more level playing field".
"Smaller independent pharmacies should, have improved access to automation and new dispensing models," it said.
