Independent pharmacists must learn to group together to get services commissioned, primary care expert Rick Stern has said.

Mr Stern, who is chief executive of NHS Alliance, was "not aware" of many cases of LPCs having "great conversations" with local medical committees about commissioning services to pharmacies, he told C+D at the Sigma conference in Mexico last week (February 18).

Mr Stern compared the attitude of independent pharmacists to GPs, who were also being encouraged by national leaders to "join up" but were "not that used to working with others".

The challenge is not just getting pharmacists to work together, but getting them to work with GPs, NHS Alliance chief executive Rick Stern said	More on commissioning Public Health England pledges to promote pharmacy to local authorities England should adopt London plans to pay pharmacies for cancer role Video: New NHS, new opportunities?
	"I'm working in a number of areas where, although local leaders might get it, not every practice does. The challenge is not just getting pharmacists to work together, but getting pharmacists to work collectively with GPs," he said.

Mr Stern said NHS Alliance was "keen to get involved" in building relationships between the two professions to make it easy for services to be commissioned.

"There are a lot of organisations around, but we think there is an opportunity to facilitate the conversation within pharmacy and particularly with local general practice," he added.

Independent Pharmacy Federation chair Fin McCaul said pharmacists "absolutely haven't got to grips" with the idea of grouping together to get services commissioned.

"Fundamentally pharmacists haven't got the right delivery levels yet. Commissioners, be they public health [bodies] or CCGs, need one pharmacy organisation that they can go to and get a solution that will be delivered on mass," he told C+D at the conference.

"LPCs are probably the best vehicle to initiate that, but it doesn't seem to be working," he added.

In his presentation to the conference, David Reissner, head of healthcare at law firm Charles Russell LLP, suggested that independent pharmacists form federations to get services commissioned.

"The federated model might be a way forward. Many of the multiples are getting into joint ventures to provide services and there's a lot more to be done by independents working together to tender for contracts," he told delegates.