Public Health England (PHE) has pledged to put its "money where its mouth is" to promote community pharmacy's role to local commissioners.

The commissioning body saw community pharmacists as a "key strategic partner" in its "national journey" to tackle public health conditions related to lifestyle, said PHE national director of health and wellbeing Kevin Fenton last night (January 23).

This would involve scaling up the healthy living pharmacy model and promoting pharmacy teams to the public as a "valued member of the wider public health workforce", Mr Fenton said at a debate on community pharmacy's public health role organised by think tank the King's Fund.

Health checks, lifestyle interventions and sexual health services were some of the ways pharmacies already contributed to public health, said the PHE's Kevin Fenton	More on pharmacists' public health role England should adopt London plans to pay pharmacies for cancer role Public Health England urges smokers to seek help to quit from pharmacists Pharmacy has public health potential but hard evidence needed
	Mr Fenton said he was "really excited" about working with pharmacy, and PHE would use its strong links with local and national commissioners to "champion" the sector.

"We will put our money and our time where our mouth is to ensure we're building relationships [with pharmacy]. We know there are innovations in pharmacy and we need to drive that innovation, so that in 10 years' time we're not having conversations about missed opportunities," he said.

Mr Fenton pointed to health checks, lifestyle interventions, sexual health services, screening programmes and signposting to other health services as some of the ways in which pharmacies were already contributing to public health.

"We're not doing this on a theoretical basis. Pharmacists and their teams have a track record of delivering a range of public health services," he added.

(1:28) Watch the full interview with Kevin Fenton

NPA chief executive Mike Holden said pharmacy now had a commitment "verbally and in writing" to deliver public health services, as well as "some money on the table to make it happen".

"Pharmacists should be thinking about getting themselves in a position to provide a broader range of public health services. Because if you're not ready, you're not going to get [the money] first," he told C+D.

Royal Pharmaceutical Society director for England Howard Duff said it was "really great" to hear that PHE would use its influence to promote the sector to local government.

"That's a lot harder for us because [local government] is a new audience. [PHE] wants to make the case, and we can then go around locally and talk to those people," he told C+D.

Last week, the government's pharmacy and public health forum reported that pharmacy had the potential to improve public heath, but more hard evidence was needed to prove the value of some services.

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