EXCLUSIVE

LPCs are split over NHS England proposals to give clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) full responsibility for commissioning enhanced services from pharmacies.

NHS England is currently considering a range of options for commissioning primary care services in the future, including fully delegating responsibility for enhanced services to CCGs. The commissioning body told C+D last month that it would know in January how many CCGs wanted this option, and that it could become a reality from 2016.

Some LPC leaders warned that giving CCGs more commissioning powers would "fragment" pharmacy services by increasing variation between different areas. But others welcomed the proposals and argued that CCGs were keen to commission more services from the sector.  

Under the Pharmaceutical Services Directions 2013, only NHS England can commission enhanced services such as minor ailment schemes and smoking cessation services from pharmacies. NHS England told C+D it would "fully engage" with pharmacy professionals before it changed its commissioning policy.

Kent LPC chief executive Mike Keen said granting CCGs greater commissioning powers would ignore a desire by the sector for "a more national approach" to commissioning. "At the moment it's very fragmented, what you get in one area you don't get in another," he told C+D.

Essex LPC chief executive Ash Pandya warned that CCGs did not have the expertise to commission services from pharmacy and he "wouldn't have confidence" in their ability to do so.

But Devon LPC chair David Bearman supported the proposals and said pharmacy needed to recognise that the health system was becoming "more localised". "It's in our interests to be involved with those discussions in an integrated way," he told C+D.

Community Pharmacy West Yorkshire chief executive Robbie Turner argued that variation was required to meet the needs of local populations and giving CCGs greater commissioning responsibility would be a "really positive step forward".

In July, NHS England announced that nine out of 10 CCGs had expressed interest in co-commissioning primary care services with it. At the time, the commissioning body said it had no plans for CCGs to take on extra responsibility for pharmacy services.

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