The Liberal Democrats have pledged to consider commissioning more national community pharmacy services as part of its bid to increase the sector's role.

The party was “committed” to ensuring community pharmacists became the first point of contact for advice on minor illnesses, which represented a “clear opportunity” for additional national services, Liberal Democrat health minister Norman Lamb told C+D last week (April 22).

He stressed that the party's commissioning would be informed by community pharmacists working with patients “day in, day out" along with other healthcare providers. The party also sought the views of community pharmacists on how NHS funding should be invested, he said, and urged them to respond to the Liberal Democrats' planned review of NHS and social care funding this year.

The Liberal Democrats were one of only two mainstream political parties to refer specifically to the sector in their manifesto, and Mr Lamb reiterated the party's committment to make community pharmacists the first point of contact for minor illnesses by "joining up with GPs and community health teams”.  

'Meeting local needs'

Despite voicing support for national commissioning, Mr Lamb rejected a “one size fits all” model for all pharmacy services, and called for local areas to have the flexibility to "create the most appropriate models of care". He pointed to flu vaccines and the management of chronic conditions as two pharmacy services that were aligned with the Liberal Democrat's "strong focus on empowering local commissioners to [meet] local needs".

The freedom to commission the right service for each area would be particularly beneficial in rural areas, he said. The Liberal Democrats would further develop the government's 'community budgets' pilots to encourage pharmacies, GP surgeries and other services to share the costs of extending their opening hours, Mr Lamb said.

The health minister added that community pharmacists played “an important part” in improving adherence and could "significantly reduce medicines wastage".

The Liberal Democrats used their manifesto to pledge to review prescription charges to “ensure they are fair to those with long-term conditions and disabilities”. The party also promised to increase NHS funding by £8 billion per year by 2020, in line with NHS chief executive Simon Stevens' recommendation.

Keep up to date with C+D's election coverage here.

*Photo: James Gourley/Liberal Democrats

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