Pharmacies could soon be commissioned to run national weight management or extra Pharmacy First condition services, Community Pharmacy England (CPE) NHS services director Alastair Buxton last week (May 12) revealed.
Speaking at the annual Sigma conference, he told delegates that CPE is currently in discussions with NHS England (NHSE) over what new services “may be confronted next year…recognising that we’re going to have our newly qualified prescribers for some of the next year as well”.
Read more: Pharmacies to pilot NHS weight loss jab expansion, reports claim
Buxton said that some of the “obvious low hanging fruit” for commissioners would be trading out patient group directives (PGDs) for “deeper prescribing steps”.
He added that this may be seen in the Pharmacy First service – which the government “has potential to add more conditions” to – or “stop smoking” services.
Read more: Pharmacies to offer free morning-after pill from October
“I’m really keen that we continue to push together a proper nationally commissioned stop smoking service in the same way we will soon have an emergency contraception service,” he said.
The service would provide “greater access for people who smoke, but also people who use vapes and want to stop”, he added.
“We know that’s a massive priority for [health secretary] Wes Streeting so we hope that’s something that the Treasury will look to fund,” he said.
Making amends
“We would also be keen to give prescribers the ability to amend prescriptions to address issues particularly around supply chain…where at the moment [patients] need to go back to the GP,” Buxton said.
“You could see nationally in due course weight management” as a pharmacy service, he added, saying that this could be “an interesting area”.
“We’ve got lots of pharmacists and pharmacies already doing it on private basis – they’re clearly demonstrating that we can support patients using the new weight loss medicines,” he said.
Read more: Blood pressure cap driven by GPs ‘dumping’ workload
“There’s also interest in perhaps starting to look at some conditions in isolation,” he added.
“Hypertension management – if we’re diagnosing them by the hypertension case-finding service (HCFS), why not?” he said.
Buxton told delegates that “other long-term conditions” and women’s health services could be on the cards too.
Read more: Pharmacies to ‘play key role’ in NHS 10-year plan, says Starmer
“All of that could be possible and more but I think we’ll end up seeing some elements locally commissioned, particularly in that long-term condition management space”, he revealed.
“You clearly can’t be managing somebody’s long-term condition without having a relationship with their general practice who will have overall responsibility for that patient’s condition,” he explained.
The comments come after CPE revealed plans to expand the pharmacy contraception service (PCS) in March, making the morning-after pill “available free of charge” at pharmacies in England from October as part of the 2025/26 pharmacy contract.
Read more: What could the next pharmacy funding deal include?
Meanwhile earlier this month, reports claimed that a multimillion-pound deal “with a major pharmaceutical firm” is set to fund a national NHS weight loss jab prescription pilot in pharmacies.
“Once the deal is signed, it will be possible to walk into a pharmacy and, after a short assessment, leave with a supply of jabs for £9.90” – the current cost of an NHS prescription – the Mail Online reported.
