The lobbying group’s director of policy Elizabeth Wade said the report published by Public Health England (PHE) and the Royal Society of Public Health (RSPH) this week (November 29) demonstrates the appetite of pharmacy teams for adopting a greater public health role, as well as the challenges they face.

“The report gets to the heart of the issues many of our members encounter as they seek to expand their role in public health delivery,” Ms Wade said.

Ms Wade listed the absence of community pharmacy leaders within local planning processes and a lack of awareness of what pharmacists can do as “real barriers” in “unlocking the potential” of the sector.

“The proposals put forward by the RSPH would be important steps in overcoming these challenges,” she said. “We urge local public health and pharmacy leaders to consider how they could be implemented.”

An under-utilised sector

The report identified a number of opportunities and challenges faced by community pharmacy teams when supporting the public’s health, using research captured in early 2016.

Almost three quarters of 492 pharmacy team respondents said the sector is under-utilised, according to the RSPH. While half said the main challenges preventing further public health involvement are insufficient staff numbers, 37% said that staff not yet being trained was an issue and 24% said that training was not available. 

Thirty percent of pharmacy teams also cited “pushback” from GPs when being commissioned to provide services, with the vast majority citing the flu vaccination service as the biggest issue.

The RSPH report gave recommendations aimed at increasing collaboration and the profile of pharmacy in relation to the commissioning process. It called for commissioners to recognise pharmacy as a health asset through “increased pharmacy visits” and “greater engagement with local pharmacy leadership”.

It also called for every community pharmacy to have at least one health champion and for more communication channels between GPs and pharmacists.

RSPH chief executive Shirley Cramer said “it is a concern” that challenges exist and stressed it is in the interest of the public that pharmacy’s role is recognised. 

Responding to the report, PHE’s national director for health and wellbeing Kevin Fenton said pharmacists are “improving the health of some of our most deprived communities”.

Pharmacy minister David Mowat added that pharmacists are a “vital source of knowledge and information” and stressed that the government is "committed to building a modern pharmacy sector".