The Pharmacy Review Steering Committee, the independent body responsible for the review, held its first meeting on December 19, agreeing a plan of action.

The committee (read about its members below) also decided the scope and limitations of the review and agreed to hold four separate focus groups this month.

The focus groups – in Leeds, Leicester, London and Taunton – will include LPC and contractor representatives and are designed to gather ideas for a national survey that the committee plans to circulate to all LPCs in February.

The results of the survey – which aims to “enable all LPC and contractor voices to be heard” – will help the chair of the review, Professor David Wright, and his team to develop their recommendations for LPCs and PSNC.

David Wright, who is professor of pharmacy practice at the University of East Anglia, was responsible for the evidence review behind the Murray report in 2016.

The independent review will look at what is working well within LPCs and PSNC and what might need to be improved, among other elements.

The final report is expected to be published within the first week of April, Professor Wright told C+D today (January 3). 

Five contractors (two of whom are independents), LPC and PSNC representatives, a local optical committee support unit national lead and PSNC chief executive Simon Dukes sit on the national steering committee, which oversees the independent review.

The two independent contractors were chosen among a total of 10 pharmacists who had submitted their interest in sitting on the committee, Mr Wright told C+D.

He added that the selection process took into consideration the need to make the steering committee gender balanced and ethnically diverse.

Steep learning curve

Professor Wright said he was “delighted that the first meeting was incredibly positive. We have agreed a way forward for the review and a way of working together.”

The review will be “a steep learning curve for the independent review team and myself”, he added. 

“At the end of this process we will hopefully create recommendations which will further enhance the service provided by PSNC and LPCs to contractors.”

Read more about the review and how to get involved on the dedicated website.