Issue - meetings

The Acting Director of Public Health to submit a report seeking approval of the Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment (PNA).

The Board is asked to:-

1)   Approve the final PNA report for publication;

2)   Note the need to update the PNA by  March 2018, as set out in the Pharmaceutical Regulations;

3)   Note and approve the ongoing responsibilities with respect to the publication of an up-to-date map of all pharmacy provision and the arrangements that have been proposed to ensure that this takes place.

The Acting Director of Public Health submitted a report seeking approval of the Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment (PNA).

The Acting Director commented that it is a statutory responsibility of the Board, to produce the PNA.  The responsibility had transferred from the Primary Care Trust to the Health and Wellbeing Board in April 2013.  One of the key functions of the PNA is to provide a basis upon which NHS England can responds to applications for new pharmacies in the area.

It was noted that there are three main components in the national contractual framework.  These are Essential Services, which must be provided by all contractors, Advance Services, which community pharmacies can choose to provide following appropriate training or accreditation by NHS England, and Community Based Services, which pharmacies can offer to provide if commissioned by local health commissioners, the CCG and local authorities, to meet local health needs.

The PNA also provides information on how services in the national framework are delivered locally and on the wider voluntary role of pharmacies.  It also considers the future projected needs and predicted population growths.  The list of statutory consultees is outlined in section 7 of the assessment and, whilst there was no obligation to consult with the public, the public were consulted and made responses either through paper questionnaires or on-line through the website.  A summary of responses from both the statutory consultees and the public were listed in the PNA.  The PNA presented a number of conclusions and recommendations for commissioners to consider. 

There was a duty to keep the PNA up to date and for it to be reviewed in 3 years’ time.  There was a requirement to publish a map of the pharmaceutical services in the City on the Council’s website and it was proposed that this would become part of the Joint Integrated Commissioning Board’s responsibilities to facilitate the plan being kept up to date.  This would also be dependent upon NHS England to provide the information required, which was an implicit requirement within the PNA process.

Professor Farooqi referred to recent media reports which described how pharmacists were being used by some GP practices elsewhere in the country to treat patients for minor ailments as part of the process to address the shortage of GPs.  He asked if there was any evidence that pharmacies were being underutilised and, if so, what plans were there to utilise these services.

In response, the Acting Director of Public Health stated that this responsibility lay with the commissioners in the first instance.  There were only 3 pharmacies undertaking the maximum of 400 Medicines Use Reviews (MURs) per year in the City. This was a free NHS service offered by pharmacies to have a private consultation with a patient to discuss their knowledge and use of the medicines.   Professor Farooqi felt that this was an under-utilised resource because if people used their medications properly it did have an impact upon future health care and pressures on GP services.  He  ...  view the full minutes text for item 66