Pharmacists should use the Call to Action consultation to demand access to patient records and nationally-commissioned services, industry leaders said in a C+D Twitter debate with Pharmacy Voice.

Pharmacists should "point out fixes" to improve the health service in their responses to the consultation, which will inform NHS England's wider primary care strategy, said Pharmacy Voice chief executive Rob Darracott, who joined the debate on Friday afternoon (February 28).

Mr Darracott also agreed "unequivocally" that pharmacists should take over the routine management of patients with long-term conditions, but said this still needed to be "properly worked out".

Pharmacists should "point out fixes" to improve the NHS in their consultation responses, said Pharmacy Voice chief Rob Darracott	More on the Call to Action Comment: This is no time for modesty – pharmacy must make itself heard Use Call to Action to rationalise pharmacy numbers, urges NHS chief Pharmacists urged to demand integration through Call to Action
	Julie McCann, assistant director of NHS England's area team for Bath, Gloucester, Swindon and Wiltshire, agreed that pharmacists' consultation responses needed to balance ambitious demands for improving the role of pharmacy with "practical and obtainable" explanations of how this could be achieved.

NHS clinical advisor and pharmacist Jonathan Mason told the debate that all pharmacists should use their responses to call for full access to patient records.

"Without access and the ability to record interventions, pharmacists will not be seen as part of the primary care team," Mr Mason said.

Craig Spurdle, head of information services at wholesale company Phoenix Distribution Limited, suggested that remote access to records would make it easier for pharmacists to provide MURs to patients in their homes.

A nationally-commissioned pharmacy minor ailments service was "a must" for the public and for primary care, said NPA chief executive Mike Holden in the debate.

NHS England's primary care strategy, which will be informed by the Call to Action, needed to find a balance between commissioning national flu and EHC services while allowing for innovation in "local hotspots", Mr Holden added.

Responding to England's chief pharmaceutical officer Keith Ridge's suggestion last month that the consultation should be used to gauge if there are too many pharmacies in some areas, Mike Hewitson, owner of Beaminster Pharmacy, Dorset, said this should be decided at a local level.

"Pharmaceutical Needs Assessments (PNAs) are the right vehicle to match numbers against need. Not politicians or bureaucrats pulling numbers out of [the] air," he said.

Mr Darracott also questioned the claim that there were too many pharmacies, when there was "plenty for pharmacists to do".

Read the full debate on C+D's Call to Action web page. Pharmacists have until March 18 to submit their response to the NHS England consultation by filling in a questionnaire. 

C+D is running a series of polls on its website in conjunction with Pharmacy Voice over the next four weeks to understand what readers would like the consultation to achieve. The representative group will then use this feedback to inform its own response to the consultation.

What do you think pharmacists should ask for in their responses to the Call to Action consultation? Comment below or email us at [email protected] You can also find C+D on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook