Pharmacy leaders have urged public health commissioners at local councils to learn more about what the profession can offer by inviting LPCs to their board meetings.

Berkshire LPC chief executive Carol Trower called on health and wellbeing boards to consult LPCs for input to their pharmaceutical needs assessments, during a Pharmacy Voice webinar last week (July 25).

The 90-minute webinar, hosted on the Local Government Association's website, attracted 644 views and 40 posts and was designed to allow councillors and directors of public health to quiz LPCs about community pharmacy.

The webinar was designed to allow councillors and directors of public health to quiz LPCs about community pharmacy	More on public health commissioning Councils must take note of pharmacy for NHS       health checks NHS must not forget pharmacy in public health drive,       minister warns Local authorities to quiz LPCs on public health MORE NEWS
	Devon LPC chief officer Sue Taylor called for pharmacists to invite local councillors to their pharmacies to "talk through" the services they provide. Attendees also suggested how pharmacy could be used more effectively in the beleagured NHS 111 service.

North Yorkshire LPC chief officer Hazel Marsden called for a national out-of-hours service in England to supply repeat medicines. Ms Marsden argued that a "significant number of calls" made to NHS 111 were from patients who had run out of their medication.

Hertfordshire county councillor William Wyatt-Lowe questioned what role pharmacists could play in the non-emergency telephone advice service, asking whether it should involve all pharmacies and whether pharmacists could be available at all times of the day.

"Before we can publicise pharmacies as a better destination than accident and emergency, we need a clear statement of context when/where this is true," Mr Wyatt-Lowe told the forum.

Pharmacy Voice chief executive Rob Darracott responded to the challenge. "It's not beyond the wit of pharmacists to be clear what that is," he said. "NHS Direct has pharmacy as distinct end points for some of its algorithims."

Rochdale Borough Council public health lifestyles manager Helen Skidmore said she hoped to get pharmacies involved in the area's health chat scheme, which involves training members of the public to encourage others to take control of their health. The programme had already recruited 200 male prisoners, she said.