Pharmacy in prime position for Osborne's plan to integrate health and social care
Practice Commissioners will need to make the most of community pharmacy if the government goes ahead with its plans to merge parts of the health and social care budgets, pharmacy bodies have warned.
Commissioners will need to make the most of community pharmacy if the government goes ahead with its plans to merge parts of the health and social care budgets, pharmacy bodies have warned.
Community pharmacy was positioned between health and social care, and commissioners needed to develop the profession's role further, Pharmacy Voice and PSNC said in response to the government's plans to spend more than £3 billion on services commissioned jointly by local NHS organisations and local authorities by 2015-16.
Chancellor George Osborne said in his 2013 spending review yesterday (June 26) that a "significant chunk" of the health and social care budgets will be brought together to remove the cracks between the two systems and ensure that social care was able to support the needs of older people.
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"I want to make sure everyone gets a properly joined-up service where they won't have to worry if that service is coming from the NHS or the local council" George Osborne, chancellor |
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"I want to make sure everyone gets a properly joined-up service where they won't have to worry if that service is coming from the NHS or the local council," Mr Osborne said. Pharmacy Voice chief executive Rob Darracott said that commissioners should make the most of community pharmacy, which sits "where health and social care meet", particularly as, despite the increase in the NHS budget, the health service would not be "flush with money". |
Burnham's going for the whole in one "There are severe financial constraints in the NHS so the focus will be on cost containment, not growth. Community pharmacy can deliver better care and better value in the face of growing financial pressures in the NHS," he added.
PSNC chief executive Sue Sharpe called on local authorities to support community pharmacies in providing care to elderly people.
"The guaranteed budget for this sort of care could be an opportunity for community pharmacy to develop its role in this area and to cement its position on the border between health and social care," she said.
The integration of the two budgets was a "potential game changer" for the NHS and it would have to begin formulating plans for how to reorganise services as soon as possible, said NHS England chief executiveSir David Nicholson.
"It means we can provide more joined-up care for patients with complex needs, enabling them to be supported at home," he said.
Earlier this month, shadow health secretary Andy Burnham told C+D that Labour also planned to merge the health and social budgets to provide a preventative system of "whole person care".
At a meeting with pharmacy representatives in parliament on June 11, Mr Burnham challenged the profession to come up with models of care in which pharmacy played a bigger role.
Read C+D's exclusive interview with Andy Burnham and watch the video here.
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How should the government make the most of pharmacy's position on the border of health and social care? Comment below or email us at [email protected] You can also find C+D on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook |
