Rowlands Pharmacy commissioning chief Liz Stafford has urged pharmacists to get involved in the NHS reforms to show the rest of the health service what community pharmacy can offer.

Pharmacists were apprehensive about what April 1 may bring, but the reforms offer the opportunity to highlight the range of work pharmacists can do, according to Ms Stafford, Rowlands national clinical liaison manager (external relations and policy development manager), speaking exclusively to C+D.

"I think it's a complex picture for pharmacy in the way [services] are going to be commissioned. In some ways, it feels like there's more to do because [pharmacies] need to speak to more people and get more people on board," she said.

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	"Community pharmacy has got to have more effective processes in place to do things bigger. This is where pharmacy multiples have quite a role to play about where their skills lie as they can help pharmacy and provide support."

Integrated care was the key, Ms Stafford said, because the reforms would provide an opportunity for pharmacists to promote enhanced services, such as smoking cessation, more widely and shift patients from GPs into pharmacy.

Ms Stafford, vice chair of Mid Lancashire LPC, is also a member of the Department of Health's task group to develop local professional networks (LPNs), which cover pharmacy, optometry and dentistry and help ensure consistency and safety in the services offered in their fields. 

The LPNs would work with the medical directors of each of the NHS Commissioning Board's 27 local area teams and provide a key link for community pharmacists to get more involved in the reforms, she said.

Ms Stafford urged pharmacists to put themselves forward to get places on LPNs and other groups controlling the NHS reforms, including clinical senates, which will offer advice to clinical commissioning boards (CCGs), health and wellbeing boards and the NHS Commissioning Board.

"I think it's really important for people to start developing positive beliefs and attitudes about community pharmacy," she added.

		Liz Stafford is one of the many high-profile speakers with whom you can debate the implications of the NHS reforms at the C+D Summit on April 11. Book your place today
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