EXCLUSIVE

Two thirds of C+D readers support the introduction of another national audit as part of the 2015-2016 funding settlement, a poll has revealed. 

Forty-three of 65 respondents to a poll, which ran on the C+D website from July 24 to August 3, said they are "happy" to take part in another audit, despite a two-week delay to the last initiative in March.

Under the 2015-16 funding settlement announced last month (July 20), contractors are required to deliver an audit on a nationally agreed topic for the second year in a row. The topic and timing is yet to be agreed, PSNC said at the time.

Community Pharmacy West Yorkshire chief executive Robbie Turner said the audits were "beneficial to the NHS [and] patients". "National audits help build a picture of where community pharmacy can better input into the NHS”, he told C+D.

But Mr Turner said he hoped "lessons had been learnt" from last year's national audit, which forced delays while NHS England finalised the paperwork.

Dorset contractor Mike Hewitson told C+D that sector was “enthused” by the 2014-15 audit on emergency medicines supplies. If the next topic is as relevant then there will be "no problem with uptake", he said.

“It is in contractors’ interest to [participate in] the audit. It ticks off a contractual requirement and allows us to gather data that is potentially helpful for pharmacy,” Mr Hewitson said.

PSNC director of NHS services Alastair Buxton said audits on locally agreed topics had been an "essential" part of the community pharmacy contract since they were introduced in 2005. Additional audits on nationally-agreed topics give the NHS the "opportunity to collect data on a much larger scale" and help the sector "make the case for future services", he told C+D. 

"While we understand the challenges of trying to fit audits into busy working practices, our priority will be to ensure the audit is manageable and support pharmacies as they carry it out," Mr Buxton added.

The results from March's audit are not yet available, but PSNC said it believes they will "demonstrate the impact that pharmacy is having on keeping patients from attending urgent and emergency care services", it said.

What topic should the next national audit be on?

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