P 47
Ymchwiliad
i’r Adolygiad Blaenoriaethau ar gyfer y Pwyllgor Iechyd,
Gofal Cymdeithasol a Chwaraeon
Inquiry into the
Priorities for the Health, Social Care and Sport
Committee
Ymateb gan:
Fferylliaeth Gymunedol Cymru
Response from:
Community Pharmacy Wales
Community Pharmacy Wales response to the Health,
Social Care and Sport Committee’s consultation into the
priorities for the Committee during the Fifth Assembly
1 September 2016
Contact Details
Russell Goodway
Chief Executive
Community Pharmacy Wales
3rd Floor, Caspian Point
2
Caspian Way
CARDIFF, CF10 4DQ
Tel: XXXXXXXXXXXX
E-Mail: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
- Community Pharmacy Wales (CPW) represents community
pharmacy contractors on NHS matters and seeks to ensure that the
best possible services, provided by pharmacy contractors in Wales,
are available through NHS Wales. It is the body recognised by the
Welsh Assembly Government in accordance with Sections 83 and 85
National Health Service (Wales) Act 2006 as
‘representative of persons providing pharmaceutical
services’.
- CPW is the only organisation that represents all 716
community pharmacy contractors in Wales. It works
with Government and its agencies, such as local Health Boards, to
help protect and develop high quality community pharmacy services
and to shape the NHS Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework
(CPCF) and its associated regulations.
- CPW represents a network of of community
pharmacies across Wales which provide essential and highly valued
health and social care services at the heart of local communities.
Community pharmacies operate in almost every community across
Wales, including in rural communities, urban deprived areas and
large metropolitan centres. It is currently estimated that on an
average day the network of community pharmacies across Wales will,
between them, deal with more than 50,000 individual
patients.
Part 2: Priorities for the Committee
REVISITING
THE COMMUNITY PHARMACY REVIEW
-
CPW would
encourage the Committee to review and build on the work undertaken
by the Health and Social Care Committee in the fourth Assembly
through its Inquiry into the contribution of community pharmacy to
NHS services in Wales. The inquiry, completed 2012, produced seven
recommendations which centred on making more extensive use of
community pharmacists and community pharmacies as a health service
resource all of which were adopted by Welsh Government. It would
useful to understand the extent to which these recommendations have
been implemented and the obstacles and reasons for any failure to
implement them. Furthermore, the previous Health Committee
recommended that its report be revisited at a later date to measure
progress.
HEALTH AND
SOCIAL CARE WORKFORCE
-
CPW welcomes
the intention of the Committee to examine the sustainability of the
health and social care workforce and will be submitting evidence.
CPW believes community pharmacies have a major role to play in
helping to maintain a sustainable health service going forward.
Despite widespread
recognition of the massive potential of the community pharmacy
network across the political and health professional spectrum, for
reasons unknown it remains a hugely under-exploited healthcare
asset, with a wide variation in commissioning of community pharmacy
services across Wales. Although CPW understands the need for
planning care locally, it feels there is a need for the development
of core services to be available from every community pharmacies in
Wales in order to increase the awareness and confidence of the
general public in relation to the full range of community pharmacy
based services in order to reduce pressures elsewhere in the
primary and secondary care sectors.
-
Community
pharmacies could make a significant contribution to releasing GP
colleagues to focus on those patients that really do need to be
seen by a doctor. For example, community pharmacy based common
ailments services and emergency supply services can reduce the
pressure on GP practices by releasing the need for these patients
to otherwise require appointments. Chronic conditions management
services and associated medicines management services can support
people to live with a condition which could otherwise result in the
requirement of hospital admission and treatment. This will also
help to reduce the number of expensive hospital beds and secondary
care treatments needed to support an ageing population. An
important part of the development of these services would also be a
relaunch and re-focus of the under-utilised “batch”
prescribing service which forms part of the current community
pharmacy contract as the Repeat Dispensing Essential Service.
Taken together, these measures could have a significant
impact on the GP practice workload.
-
Community
pharmacy services could be further transformed by utilising
community pharmacist’s skills in medication adherence and
reducing polypharmacy.
-
The workload
of some hospital based services and GP services could also benefit
from using the capacity of the community pharmacy network to triage
and signpost patients to the most appropriate health care
professional. Making community pharmacies the first port of call
for patients accessing NHS services would make a massive
contribution to the delivery of a prudent healthcare
regime.
-
CPW welcomes
the integration of health and social care services and would like
to seek to understand what opportunities there are for community
pharmacies to work closer with social care to support the
development of domiciliary care medication support to preserve a
patient’s independence and allow them to remain in their own
home. Community pharmacy services are currently only commissioned
through Local Health Boards but local authorities too could benefit
from the support that community pharmacy could provide to those in
receipt of social services care.
-
CPW has
previously developed an enhanced service template in relation to
the support that community pharmacies could deliver to care homes
as well as working with the Royal Pharmaceutical Society Wales in
relation to the production of their policy “Improving
medicines use for care home residents”. CPW would encourage
the Committee to understand what progress has been made in relation
to the use of antipsychotic use in care homes and where community
pharmacy could support this further.
-
CPW believes
that hospital discharge and outpatient services could benefit from
the dispensing of related hospital prescriptions in a community
pharmacy. This could make a significant contribution to
releasing capacity in hospital based pharmacy services as well as
leading to significant improvements in releasing hospital beds and
in the overall patient experience.
PRIMARY CARE
CLUSTERSove points 8,9,10, 11 here??MACY
REVIEWo look at primary care clusters. future. s scheduled review.
We believe pharmacy has a m
-
The Committee
might in the future like to look at the development and operation
of primary care clusters. CPW understands the importance that
primary care clusters have in transforming primary care. CPW would
like to see the role of all primary care contractors become an
integral part of primary care cluster working. Community pharmacy
contractors can significantly support the primary care agenda
helping to support the long-term sustainability of primary care by
using pharmacists’ skills and abilities according to the
prudent healthcare principles and releasing capacity in GP
practices and in A&E departments. Community pharmacies have the
largest daily footfall of all the stakeholders within a primary
care cluster and as such should have a significant role to play in
relation to supporting the health and wellbeing needs of the local
community they serve. However, to date the integration of community
pharmacy within the 64 primary care clusters across Wales has been
variable and in the majority of cases is unfortunately so far
non-existent
PUBLIC HEALTH
IN WALES
-
The Committee
may be minded to review the delivery of public health services in
Wales. Community pharmacies are pivotal to both the delivery of the
Public Health agenda nationally in Wales and at local primary care
cluster level. The ability of the NHS to cope with future demands
on its resources is heavily dependent on the Governments ability to
tackle diseases and illnesses related to lifestyle choices. The
community pharmacy network arranged as 716 High Street Healthy
Living Centres as the channel for organised public health campaigns
and offering the full range of services aimed at changing
lifestyles and improving public health would make a substantial
contribution to achieving existing Government targets.
-
Community
pharmacies in the provision of Medicine Use Reviews and other
services currently engage with people in discussions relation to
their lifestyle, including physical activity. CPW would be
interested to understand with the inclusion of sport in the health
portfolio how community pharmacies could be better utilised,
potentially in the national exercise referral scheme
CPW believes
that the Committee could during the current Assembly term
:
- Review the
progress made in relation to the implementation of the
recommendations included into the report produced by the Assembly
Health & Social Care Committee in the fourth assembly following
its inquiry into the potential contribution of community pharmacy
to NHS services;
- Expedite the
planned review of health and social care workforce;
- Examine the
development, operation and enhancement of primary care
clusters;
- Review
Public Health services in Wales including the potential
contribution of community pharmacy.
CPW agree that the
content of this response can be made public.
CPW welcomes
communication in either English or Welsh.
For acknowledgement and further
Contact:
Russell Goodway
Chief Executive
Community Pharmacy Wales
3rd Floor, Caspian Point
2
Caspian Way
CARDIFF, CF10 4DQ
Tel: XXXXXXXXXXX
E-Mail: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX