NHS leaders have recognised community pharmacy’s potential to help improve urgent care and public health, and pharmacy bodies have leapt to meet the challenge. Charlotte Rixon reports

Launched on 23 October by NHS England’s chief executive Simon Stevens, ‘Five Year Forward View’ (5YFV) outlines how NHS services need to change to ensure that they continue to deliver high quality care to all those who need it. 5YFV focuses on preventing ill health, integrating healthcare services better, and ensuring that patients ‘get the right care, at the right time, in the right place’ – all of which present valuable opportunities for community pharmacy.

Prevention

The report expresses an urgent need to tackle ‘the root causes of ill health’, through action on obesity, alcohol, smoking and other risky health behaviours. In response, Rob Darracott, chief executive of Pharmacy Voice, highlighted pharmacy’s “proven track record” in providing preventative services like smoking cessation and health checks, and called on the NHS to look at “community pharmacy’s reach into [deprived] communities, including the unregistered population”.

“The network of community pharmacy bucks the inverse care law, and our neighbourhood reach should be properly recognised as an asset,” he added.

Integrated services

Another central theme of 5YFV is the need to break down barriers between healthcare providers in order to deliver better patientcentred care. To take up this challenge, RPS English Pharmacy Board chair David Branford is encouraging pharmacy teams to look at their “current roles and skill mix” and think “creatively about how we can work alongside GPs and other service providers”. For example, pharmacies could provide more medication reviews for care homes, or carry out greater signposting across their communities.

Urgent care

The document also sets out ways of ensuring that patients get the most appropriate care when they need it, including raising awareness of pharmacy’s role in providing urgent care and managing minor ailments. While welcoming this recognition, pharmacy bodies have called for NHS England to go further and commission a national pharmacy-based common ailments service which, according to a recent Royal Pharmaceutical Society study, could save the NHS an extra £1.1 billion per year. 

Responding to the opportunities presented by the plan, Sue Sharpe, PSNC chief executive, said: “There are certainly challenges ahead, but the 5YFV confirms that the NHS views pharmacy as an integral part of its future plans.”