I had an email the other day from South Tyneside CCG regarding an issue under public consultation at the moment; namely the new emergency care hub idea - that is the idea to develop a one stop shop on the general hospital site. 

There were very few members of the public at the first consultation event, but those that were there seemed to agree that the current walk in centre is a convenient and accessible way of obtaining services, but that these could potentially be delivered by the person's GP or community pharmacy. 


Good news for pharmacy you may think? 

Well, yes and no, because although the public welcomed pharmacy's contribution, anything other than the supply function simply wasn't really understood and more shockingly, the entire audience was unaware that community pharmacies these days have private consultation rooms!

We all have some real work to do here; the LPC and contractors...we simply must raise our game here...for pharmacy the consultation room is a given now, but why are the public so unaware?

The LPC was involved in facilitating a meeting of stakeholders recently to discuss the "Call to Action." You can find details of the consultation here.
 
I attended along with about 60 community pharmacists, pre-registration pharmacists, hospital pharmacists, academics and representatives from public health, CCGs and the local Area Team of NHS England.
 
The event was "chaired" by Richard Copeland, the LPN Chair, and took the form of a short presentation followed by group work. LPC members from local LPCs facilitated the group work and fed back to the whole room. It was a truly interactive evening. All the delegates contributed and some interesting themes developed.
 
My group tackled question 2 from the Call to Action Consultation - which was all about considering how the way we commission services from community pharmacy - and how this could change to maximise the potential that community pharmacy can offer to support patients to get the most from their medication... 
 
Some of the suggestions included:-
 
Expansion of NMS service to include "all new medicines"
 
Expansion of MUR to remove the cap on numbers
 
A recognition that to really provide the best service to patients, commissioning of services from both GPs and Pharmacists should be done in an integrated manner. An example of this could be pharmacists managing certain long term conditions once diagnosed by GPs - such as Blood Pressure. Less competition between the professions will provide better care. There was also something about providers and commissioners sitting down together shaping things with services to meet the needs of patients and local priorities.
 
An understanding that the way services are  commissioned at present needs to be simplified...AQP is an incredibly complex device. Perhaps beefing up Area Teams would enable better support to help CCGs etc commission appropriately for the benefit of patients.
 
A suggestion that once a service has been proven in a few areas; it should be offered to all as a nationally commissioned service - examples included Flu vaccination and minor ailment services.
 
A recognition that the future will be in high quality services; and that supply should be a technical skill. We did however agree that this move towards "pharmacy care" provided by pharmacists MUST be via an evolutionary pathway. We must keep supplying medication, as many services based on medicines management are vital to patient care. Proper skill mix within pharmacy is vital as is improved marketing of services and signposting into pharmacy.
 
The area team are collating the ideas and suggestions from all contributions at this meeting, together with contributions from the other 2 similar meetings...and these will be sent to the DoH as a formal response from the LPN.
 
GST LPC will be sending a joint response with Sunderland LPC...
 
I've said before how important this consultation is. It will shape the future of community pharmacy. 
 
Thank you if you have attended one of the meetings, or sent in a response...If you haven't, there's still time to get involved.
Click here to give us your thoughts.

Ever since I've been a community pharmacist, I've been told by my peers that "we're at a crossroads" - well I think the profession really is now...

 

Do we engage and transform into a more clinical patient care focussed profession, or do we continue to offer a cost effective distribution service to the NHS? Perhaps there's room for both...an NHS service situated right at the heart of health care which offers distribution service for medication - as well as a raft of medicines management services and clinical services to patients?

 

But what services should we offer?

 

How should we get paid?

 

The answer to these questions are within your gift provided you engage with the debate.

 

The LPN are running several events in the near future as part of the "call to action" which probably should be re-badged "what do you want community pharmacy to offer in 5 or 10 years time"

 

Please get involved with one of the meetings...the details for the local meeting at Boldon, organised by Gateshead & South Tyneside and Sunderland LPCs can be found here.

An elderly lady attended our pharmacy this morning with a prescription for Ibuprofen gel 5%.
 
She had contacted the GP complaining of a rash that she attributed to a tube of Piroxicam Gel that she had been prescribed on a previous occasion for muscle pain. The GP had prescribed the Ibuprofen without a consultation - as a replacement...
 
She asked if I would take a look at her rash, which I did in our consultation room along with a member of staff as chaperone. The rash appeared to be like a belt of blistery skin around her back and side - and looked like shingles to me!
 
A quick phone call to the practice resulted in an urgent appointment for the afternoon...hopefully to get appropriate therapy!
 
It just goes to show the importance of checking; and not taking the word of a patient completely...