NHS England is urging pharmacists to take part in a consultation on the role of the sector in the reformed health service.

The current health system is "unsustainable" and the Call To Action consultation, launched today (December 10), is a chance for pharmacists to share their thoughts on how they could contribute to the wider primary care strategy, NHS England said.

As part of the Call To Action, which follows a similar consultation on the role of GPs held in the autumn, each of NHS England's 27 area teams will organise meetings of pharmacists, commissioners and other healthcare professionals to discuss local pharmacy strategies and decide if there are any pharmacy services that should be supported nationally.

"We want community pharmacy to play an even stronger role at the heart of more integrated services," said NHS England deputy chief pharmaceutical officer Clare Howard	More on the NHS reforms Pharmacists should be ‘beating a path' to GPs, NHS leaders say Expect more cuts to NHS services, LPCs warn Fighting to get free from funding 'straitjacket'
	NHS England would ask all participants how community pharmacy could contribute to patient care outside hospitals, manage patients with long-term conditions, provide healthy living advice and deliver high-quality services that "improve efficiencies across the whole healthcare system", the commissioning body said.

Community pharmacy plays an expanding role in public health and the consultation would engage pharmacists to see if NHS England could help transform the way pharmacists provided services, it said.

"We want community pharmacy to play an even stronger role at the heart of more integrated services. I am confident the wider public discussion [will] generate many primary-care themed discussions and issues, as well as potential solutions," said NHS England deputy chief pharmaceutical officer Clare Howard.

C+D has been talking exclusively to Ms Howard about the consultation. See the full story later this week.