Pharmacies and GP practices should move to ‘position of collaboration’ to benefit ICSs
Community pharmacies and GP practices should change the perception they have of one another to ensure the benefits of involving community pharmacy in integrated care systems (ICSs) are realised, a report has concluded.
The NHS Confederation, the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) and the Primary Care Pharmacy Association produced a report – which was published today (September 27) – setting out how community pharmacy can become a “vital part of primary care networks (PCNs) and ICSs”.
Key action: Change perceptions
At a roundtable discussion in July, the organisations put forward a series of key actions – which are laid out in the report – for community pharmacies, PCNs and ICSs to adopt that would ensure the sector is engaged at a local system level.
Among these, the organisations agreed that “community pharmacy and general practice need to work through some of the historical perceptions of their relationship”, which need to move from “one of competition… to a position of collaboration as providers and a single voice for primary care”.
One participant suggested that commissioning local services – for example, the provision of flu jabs – via an ICS could help further align the GP and community pharmacy contracts.
A voice for community pharmacy
Community pharmacists should also be given the “time and space” to get involved with the development of local services, the organisations added.
While PCNs have “the general practice registered list at its core”, community pharmacists need to remember that “primary care means you as well as GPs”, according to the report.
The NHS Confederation "is working hard to ensure that opportunities for clinical leadership are available to all primary care clinicians, with appropriate resources for backfill and development, so look out for leadership roles in your area,” it wrote on its website.
Another key requirement put forward by the organisation is a request for nationally specified services to be “properly resourced, recognising that commercial viability is a valid request by contractors in the NHS”.
Commenting on the report, NHS Confederation GP and senior clinical advisor Dr Graham Jackson – who chaired the discussion in July – urged all PCN clinical directors to “support community pharmacists to navigate the emerging NHS structures and thoroughly consider what pharmacies can bring to the table in terms of urgent care, public health, medicines optimisation and more.”
NPA chair Andrew Lane said that pharmacies “can deliver most as an integral part of the system rather than being seen as an adjunct to the main action”.
“The sector has an important role to play as a full partner within PCNs, with primary care federations and ICSs”.
In July, the government presented its Health and Care bill to parliament. If passed, the bill would enable NHS England and NHS Improvement (NHSE&I) to establish integrated care boards (ICBs).
With time, NHSE&I could delegate some of its commissioning duties to ICBs, such as “a power (but not a duty) to delegate its functions for the provision of pharmaceutical services”, Noel Wardle, partner and head of healthcare regulation at Charles Russell Speechlys LLP, explained in a blog for C+D.