Community pharmacy will be the "engine room of healthcare" in the new NHS and could make a real impact on public health if pharmacists "grasp the opportunity", GP and interim chair of NHS Clinical Commissioners Charles Alessi has said.

Dr Alessi renewed calls this week for pharmacists to embrace the "new world" of the NHS and to get involved in the reforms, in an exclusive interview with C+D.  

Although pharmacists may feel left out of clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) and the NHS Commissioning Board, health and wellbeing boards were where all the "real action" would be taking place from April 1, he said.

"The key message to pharmacists from me is to get involved – the world has changed. You are not left out" Charles Alessi NHS Clinical Commissioners	More on NHS reforms Rowlands chief: NHS reforms are opportunity for       pharmacy to prove its worth Pharmacists urged to get involved with NHS       innovation networks CCGs slow to reach out to LPCs on developing       pharmacy services
	"The key message to pharmacists from me is to get involved – the world has changed. You are not left out," Dr Alessi said. "The world is changing so rapidly. I think that, in the environment that we are living in, community pharmacy will be the engine room of healthcare."

Dr Alessi told C+D in November last year that pharmacists would fit right into the centre of the reforms, but they would need to be proactive to ensure their services were commissioned by CCGs.  

But this week he expressed his surprise after speaking to pharmacy students about the role they could play in managing long-term conditions. 

"The feedback I got was extraordinary," he said. "I thought these young people would be really excited about it all. They wanted the old role of dispensing and could not understand why the world was changing."

However, for those who embraced change there were "real opportunities" in the way healthcare was managed, he said.

Pharmacists could play a key role in carrying out cardiovascular health checks for example, Dr Alessi said, which was part of the Department of Health's plans to reduce the number of premature deaths from preventable disease, as set out in a report published on Tuesday (March 5).

"If people wish to be involved they can," he said. "The vascular checks are really going to make more difference. Pharmacists are in a very good place if they grasp the opportunity."

Health and wellbeing boards will provide the strategy for commissioning decisions across health, public health and social care. 

		Dr Alessi is one of the many high-profile speakers with whom you can debate the implications of the NHS reforms at the C+D Summit on April 11. Book your place today
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