Pharmacists must stop focusing on squeezed NHS budgets and instead make more of available funding streams, Numark conference delegates heard this week (April 21).

Local organisations had funding for training and pharmacists should work with other healthcare professionals to maximise their income from available sources such as money for MURs and the NMS, speakers at the conference in Hanoi, Vietnam argued.

Newham GP Petre Jones disagreed with a Numark delegate that there was no money for local service development. "There are income streams but you have to think about it. Let's identify these income pockets and work with what we've got."

Pharmacists were told to maximise their income from available sources such as funding for MURs and the NMS	More on pharmacy finance Small pharmacy businesses set to suffer from       chancellor's budget Two pharmacy companies go into administration Category M Barometer
	The delegates in the room who reached their maximum MUR quota numbered single figures and none were doing their maximum number of NMS interventions, Dr Jones found.

Only three had carried out a hospital discharge NMS intervention, despite the hundreds of patients who could benefit from this service and the fact that there was already money set aside for it, NHS Lambeth clinical lead Ash Soni added.

Mr Soni identified new local education and training boards (LETBs) as a source of funding for pharmacy team development.

"LETBs are really interested in investing training money in pharmacy, but not just in pharmacists – they see a real opportunity for investing in staff" Mr Soni said.