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LPC leaders have slammed NHS England for wasting their time, after the commissioning body revealed it had already published the results of its Call to Action consultation for pharmacy in a document that barely mentions the sector.
The commissioning body promised in March to publish its "strategic primary care commissioning framework" in the autumn. This would take account of the responses to its Call to Action consultations for pharmacy, general practice, dentistry and optometry that took place this year, it said at the time.
But NHS England told C+D last week that "everything" about its primary care strategy had already been included in its Five Year Forward View document, published in October, which does not mention any of the consultations and only refers specifically to pharmacy four times (see below).
Kensington, Chelsea and Westminster LPC chief executive Rehka Shah said many pharmacists had gone "out on a limb" to respond to the Call to Action, and put in an "exorbitant amount of work" in the hope the consultation might influence pharmacy's future.
Ms Shah was "horrified" to discover that the Five Year Forward View contained NHS England's entire strategy, and said the commissioning body had ignored the detail many pharmacists had included in their responses.
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"If we'd known then that they weren't going to look at the nitty gritty of the responses they got, we wouldn't have made such an effort," she told C+D on Tuesday.
Kent LPC chief executive Mike Keen echoed her disappointment and expressed concern with NHS England's lack of communication with pharmacists. But he said he was not surprised by the situation, given the commissioning body's financial struggles.
"NHS England is being thinned down dramatically. Therefore if anything is to happen as a result of the Call to Action, it's going to have to come from clinical commissioning groups (CCGs)," he told C+D.
Camden and Islington LPC chief executive Yogendra Parmar said pharmacists' consultation responses had not been taken into consideration, and urged them to turn their focus onto local commissioners.
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NHS England's Five Year Forward View: 4 mentions of pharmacy
1. NHS England will build the public's understanding that pharmacies can help them deal with minor ailments without the need for a GP appointment or A&E visit
2. NHS England will allow for the creation of multispeciality community providers – expanded GP practices that will employ a range of professions, including community pharmacists
3. Community pharmacies could help patients to get "the right care at the right time"
4. To achieve this, NHS England will organise emergency care networks to make "far greater use" of pharmacists Source: NHS England Five Year Forward View
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Local focus 'more fruitful'
"Focus on CCGs, local authorities and the voluntary sector. Anyone looking for services will find that more fruitful than devoting time and resources to influence NHS England," he told C+D.
Pharmacy Voice chief executive Rob Darracott said NHS England still needed to clarify whether the Five Year Forward View had taken account of the responses to the consultations on the four primary care professions.
The document called for pharmacists to form large-scale primary care practices with GPs and other healthcare professionals, and Mr Darracott said there was "work to be done locally" to see how the sector could engage with this model.
In April, NHS England said it had been "overwhelmed" by more than 800 responses to the Call to Action consultation for community pharmacy.
Clare Howard, NHS England's deputy chief pharmaceutical officer at the time, said pharmacists' submissions would be independently evaluated and reported back to the team working on the body's community pharmacy strategy.
Read C+D reporter Samuel Horti's blog on NHS England's underwhelming response to pharmacy's Call to Action submisisons.
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Do you feel like you wasted your time responding to the Call to Action?
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