 Following Gateshead Councils letter to pharmacies regarding its public health service review the LPC was contacted by pharmacies worried about current pharmacy services. The LPC have spoken with director of public health and she has asked us to send the following letter to pharmacies. As you will see in the letter below the director of public health and commissioning manager will be attending our next LPC meeting where we will seek further clarity. Should you have any queries about this issue please contact us. Dear Colleague
I’m writing to clarify some issues and concerns that have been raised via the LPC following the letter from Public Health dated 3rd April 2014 Firstly can I apologise for any confusion and concern because the letter does not explain specifically that we are not moving away from elements of services we currently commission via pharmacies with regard to the programmes mentioned: Substance misuse, active intervention stop smoking and sexual health. I would like to reassure Pharmacy providers that services that are currently contracted by Public Health Gateshead Council will be continued. However, should you wish to view the tender documents when they are published you may register by visiting the website www.neportal.org where instructions on how to register are given. Carole Wood and Cath Scott will be available to answer questions at the next LPC meeting (Thursday 17th July) to clarify what this means for community pharmacy. Catherine Scott Joint Commissioning Manager Public Health Gateshead Council Civic Centre Regent Street Gateshead NE8 1HH Tel: 0191 4332872 Email: [email protected]
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South Tyneside Sexual Health Services Review - Pharmacies in ST required to fill in survey.9/6/2014 South Tyneside Council Public Health are running a sexual health services review. As part of that review they would like to survey all pharmacies in South Tyneside who provide EHC.
Click Here to access the survey which will only take a a few moments. The deadline for this survey is 18th June 2014. at 4pm. The LPC requests all pharmacies in South Tynesde fill this in asap.  It is with some sadness that the LPC has to report that the NHS Health Check service in Gateshead is not being recommissioned from all pharmacies currently offering the service. The reasons for this are:- 1) Many of the contractors currently offering the service are not active at all, some are doing only a few checks and we have discovered that the council are spending about £1000 per pharmacy per year on software, testing materials, quality control etc. Public health simply cannot afford to pour this much money down the drain. 2) Public health believe that, unless staff are regularly doing health-checks they will de-skill themselves, 3) Public health have carried out a review of the Health Check service and believe that the money spent on poorly performing contractors can be better spent elsewhere - possibly even in other "not yet commissioned pharmacies" At a meeting to discuss this issue, the LPC were in a very difficult place trying to argue for a continuation of service in those pharmacies not performing. David Carter (Chair of Gateshead & South Tyneside LPC) said " It's difficult to defend the indefensible, and contractors need to be aware that services will stop if they're not being accessed. It's a different world now, and precious resources need to be targeted in places of most need. We are working very closely with public health in Gateshead and South Tyneside to position pharmacy at the centre of public health" Carole Wood (Director of Public Health, Gateshead) said " As part of the wider health system reforms implemented due to the Health and Social Care Act 2012, Gateshead Council took on new public health functions from 1 April 2013. This includes responsibility for commissioning a range of public health services. The work programme in the first year following transition has included reviews of most of the public health services to ensure they are delivered in a way that is as effective and efficient as possible and targeting the people who have the greatest health improvement needs. This has included the NHS health checks programme, sexual health services, and substance misuse services. Pharmacies are recognised as playing an important part in the public health delivery system, and we are keen to build on what works well and explore new ways of delivery. The public health team is keen to work with the LPC to ensure we are making the most of opportunities to deliver a high quality and effectively targeted services for the future." CCGs across Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Durham, Darlington and Teesside have developed a new winter campaign which focuses on self-care and the main winter respiratory illnesses that can be looked after at home or with advice from a pharmacist It uses the key message ‘keep calm and look after yourself’ and incorporates messages about discouraging people from using antibiotics. The campaign will Coincides with national Self Care week and European Antibiotic Awareness Day and will include media and press activity including
The aim of the campaign is to provide clear information to the public around the best use of local NHS services this winter – specifically for self-care, community pharmacy and antibiotics use Pharmacies will be receiving a support pack to help them to promote the message. This is a great opportunity for pharmacy. Please watch the advert above and look out for the support pack and use it to promote this message in your pharmacies. Below are some examples of the posters being used.
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