Agenda item

The Board considered a report of the Director of Public Health which provided the findings of the Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment (PNA).  A copy of the report, marked ‘Agenda Item 7’, is filed with these minutes.

The PNA concluded that community based pharmacies  were meeting the current needs of the Leicestershire population for essential, advanced and enhanced services.  A number of recommendations had arisen from the PNA around equity of service, promoting the optimal use of pharmacy services in promoting health and healthcare management and the implications of implementing Community Pharmacy 2016/17 and beyond.  These would be kept under review.

It was stated that the landscape of health care in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland was changing through local and national policy developments which were underway, but their full impact on Community Pharmacy was not yet known.  Appendix K to the report provided an overview of the current developments and this would be updated annually to reflect developments as they arose.  Any findings would be reported to the Health and Wellbeing Board.

It was acknowledged that there had been a low response to the public consultation, despite it having been publicised.  It was expected that this was because it was a low interest topic.  The Board was assured that detailed comments had been received from stakeholders and 61 pharmacists had responded to the survey.

The PNA did not address future requirements and how pharmacies could develop further to meet the needs of the population.  However, the analysis in this PNA document provided the basis for considering these matters further.  In particular, the PNA did not comment on the value or cost effectiveness of current services such as dispensing GP practices, nor did it consider how pharmacy services linked to the rest of the local health and care system.  It was suggested that the expertise that had gone into developing the PNA could be used to consider these issues, in the context of the new models of care being implemented via the LLR Sustainability and Transformation Partnership.

RESOLVED:

a)    That the report be noted;

b)    That approval be given for the PNA to be published;

c)    That the Director of Public Health and respective CCG Directors of Primary Care be requested to undertake some further work regarding how pharmacies should respond to future population changes and how pharmacies could fit into the Sustainability and Transformation Partnership, and report back to a future meeting of the Health and Wellbeing Board.