The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) has been on the lookout for innovative ideas and suggestions that could transform the future of pharmacy practice in England over the next decade.
The society's new project with the King's Fund to transform the future of pharmacy practice in England is at a consultation phase, seeking views and opinions of
pharmacy teams from all areas of practice including primary, secondary, social and community care to ensure that the system gets the best out of pharmacy and the
public receives seamless, joined-up care.
"We want to build a vision that sets out the role of and value of pharmacists and pharmacy teams working across systems, providing patient care and NHS services,"
said RPS in a statement.
"Transforming the future of pharmacy practice recognises the urgent need to build on new ways of working established across health and care systems during the
pandemic to meet the increasingly complex health needs of people and improve patient outcomes."
Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee has submitted its evidence to the House of Commons Health and Social Care Select Committee's recent inquiry into 'The future of General Practice'.
The committee, chaired by former health secretary Jeremey Hunt MP, had launched an inquiry to explore the future of NHS GP over the next five years.
PSNC's evidence focused on what community pharmacy is currently doing to support GPs, and what more can be done in the future.
The negotiator said: "We focused on how pharmacies supported patients throughout the pandemic as the only primary care access point offering healthcare advice on a walk-in basis.
The Pharmacy Supervision Practice Group consisting of members from AIMp, APTUK, CCA, NPA, PDA, PFNI and RPS held its fourth workshop to continue discussions
on the future modelling of pharmacy practice.
The ideas around 'supervision' shared by the organisation earlier formed the basis of the discussion during the workshop and helped to expand understanding of where
there was consensus and disagreement.
Examples of ideas explored during the workshop include: the extent to which a pharmacist should supervise the medicines assembly process, the purpose and extent to
which a pharmacist might be absent from the pharmacy and how this might affect patient safety as well as the nature of whether fixed rules versus a broad framework
were preferable for future practice.
Chair of the group, Dr Michael Twigg, Associate Professor of Primary Care Pharmacy, University of East Anglia, said "Once again the sector bodies have come together
in a collaborative and positive manner to explore the concept of 'supervision' in the context of current and future community pharmacy practice. This session provided an opportunity to constructively challenge assumptions and viewpoints within the group with the aim of moving the discussion forward."
As part of the session, the DHSC, GPhC and PSNI gave an overview of the difference between legislation, regulation and guidance which was helpful to inform the
group's thinking. Each of the organisations have been asked to use the conversation to refine the ideas presented in advance of the next workshop.
Despite the challenges confronting pharmacy owners and their teams today, many in the industry hold the belief that the future for community pharmacy is
promising.
In a poll conducted at the beginning of the Pharmacy Business Conference 2024, 58 per cent of participants agreed that the future of community pharmacy is
positive, with 13 per cent expressing strong agreement.
However, 27 per cent expressed disagreement, with 3 per cent strongly disagreeing that the sector's future is optimistic.
By the end of the conference, a higher percentage of individuals (67 per cent) showed a positive outlook for community pharmacy, with over half indicating
strong agreement with its positivity. The number of participants who disagreed with it decreased to 11 percent.
The National Pharmacy Association (NPA) has emphasised that the community pharmacy sector must be involved right from the start in all local planning meetings
pertaining to the roll-out of vaccine services in potential future pandemics. This includes crucial discussions regarding supply logistics and resource allocation,
lawyers representing the NPA told COVID-19 public inquiry hearing.
Chaired by Baroness Heather Hallett, the independent public inquiry is examining the UK's response to the Covid-19 pandemic and lessons for the future.
The NPA has been designated as a 'core participant' in Module 4 (vaccines) of the inquiry, which considers various issues related to vaccine development and rollout,
as well as Module 3 (healthcare).
During the hearing on September 13, NPA lawyers outlined three key areas the association says must be improved in future pandemic vaccination programs, including
properly utilising existing primary care expertise, better planning and engagement, and improved access to information for community pharmacists.
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) is seeking views of pharmacists to help shape the future of pharmacy practice in England over the next decade.
The RPS's project with The King's Fund, transforming pharmacy practice, aims to develop a vision for the role of pharmacists and pharmacy teams working across
systems, providing patient care and NHS services. It's due to be published at the end of the year.
"From 15 August to 30 September we are asking people to respond to our consultation on six key themes," the RPS said.
"We'll also be holding face-to-face and virtual events in September to hear your views."
The King's Fund has completed a literature review which has helped inform the initial six themes which will be the focus of the consultation, all of which can be
downloaded and read before responding.
The National Pharmacy Association (NPA) has announced that the Chief Pharmaceutical Officer for England, David Webb will be among the keynote speakers at the
Pharmacy Odyssey Conference on 13 October.
He and other special guests will discuss the future of community pharmacy within the NHS, during a day of insight and practical advice for pharmacy teams.
The NPA promises expert opinion on the current pressures in the sector and a thorough exploration of the long-term picture.
NPA Director of Membership, Simon Tebbutt, explains: "With the NPA centenary in 2021 behind us, this will be a foray into the future - mapping the coming decade,
and next half-century - as well as covering the many challenges of the present time."
The theme of the conference, to be held online and sponsored by Novo Nordisk, is Pharmacy Odyssey: Services, Supply and Sustainability.
Nuffield Trust and The King's Fund are seeking feedback from community pharmacy on their proposals for the future of community pharmacy and they are seeking
feedback from community pharmacy stakeholders.
The online survey is the latest opportunity for pharmacy owners, LPCs and others in the sector to engage with the project to develop a Vision for Community Pharmacy.
Nuffield Trust and The King's Fund want to hear their views on their proposals, ahead of the publication of the final report later this year. The vision is
critically important, as it will be used to develop the future strategy for the sector and lay the groundwork for the next Community Pharmacy Contractual
Framework (CPCF) negotiations.
The survey is asking for thoughts on key aspects of the vision and its recommendations. The vision has been developed by Nuffield Trust and The King's Fund
following an extensive programme of research, interviews and 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 vision project team are looking forward to hearing views from across the sector on their proposals and what will need to happen to make them a reality.
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 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 Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) has confirmed it will respond to UK Commission's 'call for evidence' on pharmacy professional leadership.
The commission wants to ensure the professions are well equipped, with a voice to help shape the future, and enabled to develop through sharing and learning from
best practice.
The UK Commission on Pharmacy Professional Leadership has been set up by the chief pharmaceutical officers of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. It will
produce recommendations for the future of pharmacy professional leadership in the UK.
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's Medical School.
The commission will be hosting a webinar and has urged the associations and individuals to take part in 'call for evidence' which has been launched to inform and
develop its work.
A webinar in England will take place on Wednesday 7 September 6:30 - 8 pm. In Scotland it will be organised on Tuesday 6 September 7-8:30 pm and in Wales it will be
hosted on Thursday 8 September 7-8:30 pm.
The Pharmacy Supervision Practice Group held its second meeting to discuss the future modelling of pharmacy practice.
Some of the leading bodies from the community pharmacy sector have joined the group. The members explored themes centred around accountability, delegation and
responsibility.
The session included a wide-reaching discussion, including what future guidance might look like and the continued patient access to the pharmacist through a
comprehensive, accessible and equitable community pharmacy offer.
Chair of the group, Dr Michael Twigg, Associate Professor of Primary Care Pharmacy, University of East Anglia, said: "The primary objective of the group is to
develop a co-designed and co-produced solution that will not only enhance the patient experience within community pharmacy practice, but that will enable the
community pharmacy workforce to maximise role and professional skills.
"At its second meeting, the group was unanimous that any changes in the delegation, responsibility and accountability space should be in the patient interest,
distil confidence for patients and ensure that community pharmacy remains accessible and equitable."
The future of community pharmacies is in danger. With some 639 local pharmacies closing in England since 2016, action is clearly needed to ensure their
longevity and maintain their rightful place on the high street.
With increasing pressure on the NHS, which is suffering from healthcare backlogs and long waiting lists following the harsh impact of the pandemic, pharmacies
have an opportunity to create a more substantial contribution within the healthcare industry.
To ensure that pharmacies are able to embrace this opportunity, they need to be equipped with the necessary tools to enable them to meet the needs of an increasingly
digital population.
One way of doing this is to support pharmacies online, by providing them with a means to connect to patients via mobile, tablet or desktop. In turn, the UK population
needs to be more aware of the services that can be provided by a pharmacist - many of which would save them from visiting a GP.
Chief executive of the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee Janet Morrison has said government ministers are looking at the future of community
pharmacy in England in a "bigger way" and have a vision to go "beyond the Scotland model".
"I think they believe they're going beyond the Scotland model," she said, in her closing keynote at the 7th Annual Pharmacy Business Conference held in London on
Sunday (May 14).
Giving her views on the latest government funding - worth £645 million - for community pharmacy, the head of pharmacy negotiator, added: "Their thinking is for the
future in a bigger and a more forward-thinking way."
She added it was for the first time that community pharmacy has been seen "as part of primary care in a really fundamental way that gives us hope for the future".
Morrison said the new funding uplift was effectively "for five quarters of activity," arguing that the common condition service won't start before December or early
in the New Year due to the time it would take to get the IT systems up and running to support the rollout.
There is a realistic possibility of large waves of Covid-19 infection in the future in Britain and such waves might even be considered likely, epidemiologists who model the Covid-19 pandemic to inform government advice have said.
Prime minister Boris Johnson has ditched legal restrictions in England, saying that, while the pandemic was not over, Britain needs to learn to live with Covid.
The Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling, Operational sub-group (SPI-M-O) said the emergence of new viral variants was the biggest unknown factor in the medium-to-long term, along with waning population immunity and changes in mixing patterns.
"Large future waves of infection that need active management to prevent detrimental pressure on the health and care sector are, at least, a realistic possibility (high confidence) or likely (medium confidence)," SPI-M-O said in a consensus statement published on Friday.
The NIHR Research Delivery Network (RDN) has published a new paper highlighting the learnings from a major COVID-19 research trial conducted in primary
care settings.
The paper, which draws on insights from the PANORAMIC study, emphasised the importance of prioritising primary care studies from the very start of any pandemic
to prevent worsening of patient symptoms and reduce hospital admission.
Additionally, it recommended considering the use of UK-wide pharmacy networks, including community pharmacies, to promote research inclusion for future similar
trials in primary care to increase recruitment in underserved communities.
Authored by Professor Phil Evans, GP and Deputy Health and Care Director at the NIHR RDN together with colleagues from the NIHR and University of Oxford, the
80-page paper concluded that primary care research should be at the forefront of future pandemic preparedness.
During the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, much research was carried out on critically ill patients in secondary care settings.
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Chipmaker giant Intel seems to be in a different orbit altogether. At the recently concluded Computex event in Taipei, Intel showcased a prototype of what it believes would be the future of high-end gaming laptops. Codenamed 'Honeycomb Glacier', this laptop places two screens on each other - a primary display having 15.6" Full HD display and a secondary display with 12.3" 1920×720 pixel screen. The secondary screen is supported on a mechanical one-way roller hinge and can be put to rest horizontally in continuation to the keyboard, when not in use.
Pharmacy Supervision Practice Group, an organisations from across the community pharmacy sector, who have come together to look into the future "supervision" in
community pharmacy, have published their final report.
Over the course of nine collaborative and positive workshop-style discussions the Supervision Practice Group aimed to provide recommendations to reframe legislation,
regulation and professional standards and guidance to achieve a new vision for community pharmacy.
The group have produced a report which makes several recommendations on the subjects of:
* the legislation relating to "supervision";
* the temporary absence of the RP from the pharmacy;
* delegation;
* the preparation and assembly of medicines when the RP is not signed in.
The group have provided recommendations on which the Department of and Social Care and the regulators can draft specifically worded revisions to legislation and
regulatory standards. These specific legislative and regulatory changes that are proposed by government and regulators will be subject to a full consultation process.
The National Pharmacy Association has published a medium-term prospectus for the development of pharmacy services, calling it a challenge to old ways of
thinking and an opportunity to redefine the sector's role in the NHS.
It follows months of dialogue with NPA members about what a clinical future could look like for the sector.
The document - Making Changes Meeting Needs - will be shared with the King's Fund and Nuffield Trust who are currently working on a new vision for the future on
behalf of Community Pharmacy England.
NPA chair, Nick Kaye, said: "Building out from the existing portfolio of services, there are some major opportunities within this decade, encompassing prevention,
medicines optimisation, long term medical conditions and urgent care.