Sexual HealthPharmacy Bodies Work Together To Promote The Integration Of Pharmacy Within Lord Darzi's Primary & Community Care Strategy
"Maximising Health Gain Through Community Pharmacy" is the title of two jointly badged publications from pharmacy organisations CCA, NPA, RPSGB, PSNC and AIMp. The documents, which were produced in collaboration with the NHS Alliance, were launched to the NHS this week, as part of a strategy to promote the role of pharmacists to commissioners, managers, general practitioners and others in primary care. The documents also seek to influence the commissioning of pharmacy services by PCTs under World Class Commissioning and the integration of pharmacy into Practice Based Commissioning (PBC).
The guides - "10 High Impact Changes in PCT Commissioning Practice" and "5 High Impact Changes for SHAs" - have been produced as a provider perspective on commissioning. They provide PCTs and SHAs with suggestions of how to work with pharmacists in order to maximise their contribution to the development of PBC and commissioning.
The pharmacy bodies believe that the vision for delivering high quality care to patients will only succeed if all primary care professionals - including community pharmacists - are fully involved in the planning, redesign and delivery of new services. Commissioners want high quality providers: community pharmacy is already delivering a multitude of cost-effective services that benefit patients; it is ready and eager to further develop this service provision within a World Class Commissioning environment.
In a collective statement, the pharmacy organisations comment:
"It is important that PCTs and SHAs appreciate that pharmacy must be positioned within clinical frameworks to contribute effectively, strategically and authoritatively.
The objectives of our guides are threefold: to nurture collaborative approaches between PCT and practice based commissioners and local pharmacies; to robustly promote the role of community pharmacists as frontline NHS clinicians, and to highlight the valuable input pharmacists can make to both the commissioning and the provision of services through successful integration into primary care.
Community pharmacists are already introducing innovation in service re-design in areas such as prescribing, NHS Health Checks and sexual health, and with their increased involvement in PBC, the benefits to patients will continue to develop.
Our two publications provide up-to-date case studies and examples of best practice in how to work with pharmacy. We hope they will provide commissioners with more ideas about the health gain that community pharmacy can deliver, with simple practical suggestions for making it happen."
National Pharmacy Association