'If PSNC's next CEO falters, the sector may lose it all'
The next CEO of the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) needs to adapt to a changing healthcare landscape, says Hemant Patel
PSNC will be appointing a new CEO soon. Surprisingly, there has been little interest in the matter, despite the fact that the timing could not be more unfortunate.
Community pharmacy has not realised that we are transitioning from NHS to local health and wellbeing systems, with significantly different commissioning approaches. The NHS is creating 44 sustainability and transformation plans (STPs), which are expected to integrate primary care and make the system more efficient and person-centred.
Accountable care systems will also be introduced. In an accountable care system, several healthcare organisations agree to provide all health and social care for a given population.
So, profession-based commissioning will begin to unravel as team-based commissioning asserts itself. PSNC is not designed for that world. It has taken little interest in developing local commissioning, so it will remain on the periphery. The community pharmacy network is disorganised and without a strategy to be part of this major commissioning development.
An uphill task
PSNC has been slow to adapt to revolutionary changes. A shakeup is needed to make it fit for a new purpose. There is no single body responsible for guiding a vision for pharmacy consistent with either the NHS’s extremely important Five Year Forward View or the GP Forward View. In addition, the Pharmacy Forward View – published in August 2016 by PSNC and Pharmacy Voice – has serious deficiencies in my opinion, as it has no strategy to manage the expensive pharmacy estate, or to contribute to STPs or accountable care systems.
Futhermore, PSNC has no strategy for adapting to the new clinical demands of the NHS, developing multi-disciplinary team working, or helping to convert outdated premises and services. The new CEO has to be in control of everything: strategies for developing premises; digitisation; a clinically competent workforce; care package development; integration; collaboration; and competition. Otherwise the network risks losing it all.
What should the new CEO do?
Here's a closer look at the specifics:
- Control the direction of PSNC and reposition the entire network of community pharmacies
- Present ideas of new projects which might interest the NHS when it comes to national commissioning
- Take responsibility for day-to-day decisions, influenced by what goes on in the 44 STPs across the country
- Identify threats to the network and ensure appropriate and timely strategies are in place to combat them.
The CEO has the major task of repositioning the community pharmacy network. There might be a need to take extra care in this appointment, to ensure that at this crucial time PSNC does not slip up and speed up the demise of the network.
There is a serious risk here. If the CEO falters, the whole network may sink out of existence.
Hemant Patel is the secretary for North East London local pharmaceutical committee