The government has proposed reforms that would give integrated care boards (ICBs) new powers to “strengthen action” over “inadequate provision” of pharmacy services.
Health minister Karin Smyth told fellow MPs on a public bill committee last week that an amendment to a clause in the NHS Modernisation Bill, formerly called the Health Bill, will ensure ICBs “can respond swiftly to exceptional circumstances, regardless of scale”.
The new clause “removes the unnecessary provision for the secretary of state to make arrangements himself and clarifies that authorisation to ICBs should be given through directions,” she added.
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And she said the directions “will be limited to six months” but could be extended further “if required”.
Smyth said the current wording in NHS legislation about how ICBs can act if pharmacy service arrangements fail is “widely interpreted as applying only to large-scale national emergencies” affecting “a significant number of people”.
“It is unclear whether that would cover more localised situations, such as a village cut off by flooding following a bridge collapse, or where the only pharmacy serving an area closes unexpectedly, creating an urgent unmet need, as we have seen happen,” she added.
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She noted that it is “also unclear how the secretary of state would authorise alternative arrangements”.
Smyth told MPs the change to the bill “maintains appropriate national oversight while preventing misuse of the powers”, and “is a sensible and proportionate amendment that gives the system the flexibility it needs in exceptional circumstances while retaining proper safeguards”.
Appeals
Smyth also said a new clause to simplify the appeal framework for pharmacy contractors would mean any appeals “split between different routes” will instead be “heard by a single appeal authority”.
The amendment would hand all pharmacy-related appeals over to NHS Resolution, which Smyth said has “substantial experience in handling disputes involving NHS pharmaceutical services”.
She said it is currently “not always clear” whether a concern about a contractor relates to fitness or performance, and NHS Resolution is “well placed to provide a clear, consistent and independent route of appeal”.
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Smyth confirmed that the move does not change how the fitness-to-practise cases of individual pharmacy professionals are regulated, and that the General Pharmaceutical Council will continue to handle concerns relating to individuals “separately”.
It comes after the Single Patient Record (SPR) was formally introduced in the NHS Modernisation Bill last month.
The government said the SPR will offer “safer, more coordinated care” and support care “closer to home”, with patients benefitting from “clear safeguards, audit trails and choice over how their data is used”.
