The Health Committee's new report has reminded the government of a much-needed pharmacy workforce plan to support recruitment, training, and retention of staff.
The report makes a number of recommendations to optimise workloads across primary care, reduce pressure on general practice and hospitals, and support the integrated
care systems.
It also recognises the potential of pharmacist independent prescribers to support patient care, backed by appropriate supervision, training, and opportunities for
professional development.
RPS England gave evidence to MPs on the Committee at a public hearing in May, highlighting key issues to support the pharmacy workforce.
RPS director for England, Ravi Sharma, said: "Today's report underlines the urgent need for the Government to set out a comprehensive workforce plan for health and
care.
"It rightly recognises that boosting recruitment and retention, supporting staff wellbeing, fostering inclusion and diversity, and investing in education and
training will be crucial to the future of the NHS.
Titan PMR has been accredited by the NHS to provide electronic prescription services (EPS) to dispensing doctors.
Over 1,000 of these doctors, who provide a vital service to almost 10 million people in rural communities, can now offer their patients the same level of benefits
and efficiencies that electronic prescriptions and Titan PMR have brought to pharmacies around the UK.
These features will also increase efficiency for dispensing doctors, who will reduce dispensing errors and improve organisation, increasing their capacity while
enjoying the ability to integrate with other technologies.
After a full year of testing, including six months of compliance testing at a practice in Cumbria, the new accreditation for Titan also has potential to help the
NHS fulfil its target of all prescriptions being issued electronically.
Currently written paper prescriptions from dispensing doctors account for around seven per cent of the total prescriptions in England - around 6.5 million each month.
"Until now dispensing doctor surgeries have basically been in the digital dark ages when it comes to dispensing medicines," said Tariq Muhammad, a tech entrepreneur
and CEO of Bristol-based Invatech Health, which developed Titan PMR.
The 14th Annual Community Pharmacy Conference by Sigma Pharmaceuticals began on Monday, 25 February at Sun City, South Africa.
Dr. Bharat Shah, Manish Shah, and Kamal Shah, co-founders of the company, extended a warm welcome to the delegates in attendance at the event.
In a written message, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak extended his best wishes to all the participants attending the conference.
The message read: "This conference is timely as it coincides with the launch of the Pharmacy First, a new initiative launched across England that will enable
patients to receive treatments for seven common conditions directly from a pharmacist without the need for a GP appointment or prescription."
"We are all grateful for the tremendous contributions that pharmacists make to our NHS. The fantastic work you do is critical to the success of Pharmacy First
and many other initiatives."
The Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) is advising locum pharmacists to take screenshots of online agreements due to an increasing number of reports
where community pharmacy businesses are unilaterally amending agreed-upon terms after a contract has been confirmed.
The PDA highlighted one recent case where a locum was informed at short notice by the community pharmacy business that they would no longer pay the agreed hourly
rate.
The business then re-advertised the shift, falsely claiming that the booked locum was unwell.
Unable to secure a locum at the new rate before the shift, the pharmacy closed, leaving patients and the local community without access to services.
In such circumstances, the PDA advises affected locums to notify the relevant health boards or Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) of such breaches of NHS terms of
service.
The GP Community Pharmacist Consultation Service (GP CPCS) is also delivering 'unexpected' insights to help transform patient care and facilitate integrated
working between pharmacists and GPs across Greater Manchester.
Since April 2021, almost 14,000 appointments have been referred using the GP CPCS across the Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership - a figure that
is growing as its success gathers pace and they continue to support practices to increase referral activity.
Joshua Nolan, a pharmacist at Internet Pharmacy in Heywood, one of the first in the area to join the referral service, said: "The number of patients we're seeing
from GP CPCS has been building consistently month-on-month. On average we see around 50 patients, but recently we recorded 53 in just one week."
The pharmacist, who has been practising for six years and is also an independent prescriber, believes the GP CPCS has helped bring about more awareness to the
clinical services community pharmacy can offer.
In a bid to amplify the role of pharmacists in clinical services and vaccination programs, the Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) has embarked on a
groundbreaking collaboration with Aston University.
This initiative, funded by Innovate UK Business Connect, aims to explore the feasibility and impact of integrating additional healthcare interventions within
community pharmacies.
"The Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) research project represents an exciting opportunity to advance the role of pharmacists in patient care," remarked
Alison Jones, Director of Policy at PDA.
"This project will be an important part of that evolution, supporting individual pharmacists to have more opportunities to practice and so develop more fulfilling
careers."
Led by the PDA and Aston University, the project will commence imminently, focusing on the Priory Community Pharmacy in Dudley.
Responding to a new National Audit Office (NAO) report that indicated that NHS England's Long Term Workforce Plan (LTWP) needs improvements, the Royal
College of General Practitioners (RCGP) has expressed concerns that the plan may not adequately address the needs of GPs.
Published in June 2023, the workforce plan estimated that the NHS's health workforce will need to grow from 1.4m full-time equivalent (FTE) staff in 2021-22 to
between 2.3m and 2.4m FTE workers in 2036-37, an increase of 65 per cent to 72 per cent.
However, the NAO report highlighted that the workforce modelling has significant weaknesses, including a complex design; manual adjustments; optimistic future
assumptions and limited public communication of their uncertainty; and modelling outputs that could not be fully replicated.
To improve the modelling, the report recommended exploring the uncertainty of these assumptions and considering potential outcomes if they do not materialize as
expected. Additionally, it suggested including full integration of the different parts of the modelling pipeline to minimise manual adjustments.
After struggling with COVID, Hemant Petal is back to good health, and now he is on a mission to reduce "health inequalities".
Speaking at the SIGMA Conference 2023, he spoke about his new role as Clinical Lead, Health Inequalities and Population Health Management, SE Essex Alliance,
Essex ICB.
"So, my new role is outside pharmacy, nothing to do with pharmacy. But it is important, I feel that I share some of my insights about the work that I'm doing that
might benefit you," he said.
Elaborating on the role of integrated care boards (ICBs), he said that they are designed to enhance coordination and collaboration across different healthcare
providers and settings.
The representatives from hospitals, community services, retail and social care meet on a monthly basis to "look at where there are issues to be resolved, perhaps
what can be done to improve the healthcare services."
To combat the effects of climate change, the Integrated Care System (ICS) in South East London (SEL) has initiated a pioneering inhaler recycling project.
Supported by NHS England and spanning 20 community pharmacies across the region, the project marks the first nationally-funded pilot of its kind in England,
targeting the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from improperly disposed inhalers.
The project, which commenced at King's College Hospital in February 2024, focuses on the recycling of pressurised metered-dose inhalers.
These inhalers, due to their propellant content, contribute significantly to environmental harm, emitting gases equivalent to driving 71.8 miles in a standard
petrol car.
NHS West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB)'s decision to withdraw gluten free prescriptions for people with coeliac disease across Leeds and Calderdale
has disappointed Coeliac UK.
In a statement released on Thursday, the charity, which provides support and advice to those living with the disease, has raised "grave concerns" about the decision,
warning that it will have a detrimental impact on the coeliac community.
The policy is currently implemented across the ICB's other places including Bradford district and Craven, Kirklees and Wakefield district, preventing coeliac
patients from accessing gluten free bread and flour mix on prescription.
NHS West Yorkshire ICB wants to align its gluten free prescribing guidelines across its five places.
But the charity is worried that the additional cost of gluten free staple products will poses a real challenge to maintaining the gluten-free diet, which is the
only treatment for the condition.
Wes Streeting MP has been appointed Secretary of State for Health and Social Care in the new Labour Government.
The Ilford North MP will now take on the critical role of overseeing the National Health Service (NHS) and implementing Labour's ambitious health agenda.
At the core of the Labour Party's healthcare reform manifesto is enhancing accessibility to primary and community healthcare. This involves implementing a
'Community Pharmacist Prescribing Service,' to empower pharmacists with independent prescribing rights where clinically suitable.
This initiative aims to alleviate the strain on GP practices and enhance service accessibility.
Additionally, the manifesto proposes piloting Neighbourhood Health Centres, to integrate various healthcare services -such as family doctors, district nurses,
and mental health specialists under one roof.