PSNC has produced a business case for pharmacy flu vaccinations to help LPCs navigate the increasingly tough commissioning environment.

PSNC joined forces with social enterprise Pinnacle Health Partnership, which collected data from Isle of Wight pharmacies providing flu jabs, to send out template business cases to all LPCs in England on Friday (June 28). The template aims to help LPCs calculate local performance against flu vaccination targets and includes data on pharmacy's performance to present.

Financial pressures on the NHS would make the need for a solid business case "greater than ever", PSNC warned, but it stressed that pharmacists could boost vaccination rates in areas with underperforming GP practices.

Commissioners would have a "heck of a job" reaching target populations without pharmacy Gary Warner, Pinnacle Health	More on pharmacy vaccination services Isle of Wight flu jab uptake boosted by PCT scheme Pharmacists keen to provide catch-up jabs in fight       against measles Boots pharmacists set for wider vaccination role       under Walgreens plans MORE NEWS
	Last year, less than 1 per cent of the 11,077 GP practices in the country managed to deliver flu vaccines to 75 per cent or more of their target at-risk groups, it said.

"Despite the apparent challenges, we are very hopeful that, with the right approach, the reformed NHS could actually act as a positive change for community pharmacy flu vaccination services in some areas," said PSNC head of pharmacy practice Barbara Parsons. "Local commissioners are going to be under immense pressure to meet public health targets and, when it comes to vaccinations, they may need some help."

Gary Warner, partner at Pinnacle Health and a PSNC subcommittee chair, warned that commissioners were likely to miss their targets if they simply did "more of the same", adding that they would have "a heck of a job" reaching their target populations without involving pharmacy.

Mr Warner said commissioners needed to spread their net a bit wider to target people who didn't traditionally go to their GP.

Flu vaccination rates increased nearly 10 per cent In the Isle of Wight after pharmacies started offering the service in 2010, a study published in April this year found.