The pilot aims “to test the creation” of a community pharmacist “palliative care network lead” in each Integrated Care System (ICS), director for primary care strategy and NHS contracts, Ed Waller, said at the Pharmacy Show in Birmingham last Monday (October 18).

The individual will “co-ordinate access to information for prescribers about community pharmacy PEoLC support and medicines stock holding across the ICS” and will also explore the potential for a role across each ICS, he added.

An NHSE&I spokesperson confirmed to C+D yesterday (October 25) that the pilot is expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2021/2022, “between January and April”.

Pilot funded through the PhIF

Mr Waller told Pharmacy Show delegates that the scheme will be paid for through the Pharmacy Integration Fund (PhIF), which was established in 2016 to accelerate the integration of pharmacy across health and care systems.

Further information, including the pharmacies involved, “will be released in due course”, nearer to the pilot’s expected start date, an NHSE&I spokesperson told C+D.

The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) revealed in August that discussions around how pharmacies can help improve palliative care medicine access were still ongoing.

The five-year community pharmacy contract, published in 2019, also laid out plans to “commence palliative care pilots” in 2020/2021, “to improve access to palliative care medicines”. 

These pilots were expected to conclude in 2021/22 and NHSE&I stated in the contract that it was committed to commissioning an equivalent national service, if the trials had “demonstrated value for money”.