12 November 2013

Response to the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s commission Now or Never: shaping pharmacy for the future

The NHS Alliance is proud to have contributed to the Royal Pharmaceutical Society Commission for future models of care delivered through community pharmacy. We are also pleased that the NHS Alliance will be represented at the launch of the report ‘Now or Never: shaping pharmacy for the future’.

The NHS Alliance supports a broader role for pharmacists and community pharmacy, the integration of primary care contracts and the ability to separate dispensing and supply from clinical service provision. We will be discussing common condition services and out of hours provision in the NHS Alliance Conference and hope that community pharmacy and NHS England are fully engaged in creating solutions to this issue.

The NHS Alliance would like to add that they have experienced examples of best practice delivered by pharmacists and pharmacies. There is a challenge to us all to spread this best practice to ensure that good care is offered to everyone.

Mark Robinson, Pharmacy, Medicines and Medicines Optimisation advisor to the NHS Alliance said “this is a very important report for the profession, calling for better engagement within health, social care and public health. The report lays out several recommendations to commissioners, pharmacists and the professional body which should be acknowledged and followed”.

Michael Dixon, Chair of the NHS Alliance was ‘particularly impressed by the report which demonstrated significant areas of alignment with the NHS Alliance manifesto”. He also commented “I was pleased to see that our call for the employment or attachment of medicines optimisation pharmacists to all general practices was included in the Executive Summary. Pharmacists are often the missing link to providing good care and a valuable resource that should be better used”.

Notes

NHS Alliance provides a strong, authoritative, independent voice for NHS primary care users and providers. It brings together patients, frontline staff, providers and commissioners bound by the common values of the NHS. Its core purpose is to work collaboratively to improve health care within a sustainable NHS, facilitating new and better ways of delivering services through its networks and campaigns. It welcomes patient-focused organisations and individuals of all disciplines, representing them to government and its agencies to influence policy in the interests of all its members.