Pharmacy ‘on the edge of a golden age’, conference hears

Community pharmacy could be entering a ‘new golden age’ under the government’s 10-year health plan, according to Michael Lennox, local integration lead at the National Pharmacy Association (NPA).

Speaking during a panel session at The Pharmacy Show in Birmingham last week, Mr Lennox described the coming years as a critical opportunity for the sector to redefine its role within primary care, and called for urgent action to ensure pharmacy is central to delivering national priorities like prevention and reducing demand on general practice.

He told delegates: ‘There’s no 10-year plan without brilliant general practice, but there’s probably no brilliant general practice without brilliant community pharmacy.’

The blueprint, published in July, promised to move pharmacies away from being dispensing-focused and towards more clinical services – and to ensure the community pharmacy sector has a ‘vital role’ under the government’s plans for a ‘Neighbourhood Health Service’.

The plan said there will be a focus on increasing the role of pharmacies in the treatment of obesity, high blood pressure and high cholesterol, as well as expanding the sector’s role in vaccinations and screening.

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Mr Lennox said the next three years would be critical if the sector is to deliver on the 10‑year plan and shape new models of care through the NHS’s National Neighbourhood Integrated Healthcare Programme (NNIP). ‘We need to be bold, and we need to crack on and do stuff now,’ he said.

Luvjit Kandula, director of strategy and transformation at Community Pharmacy Greater Manchester, said pharmacists must build relationships across the wider healthcare system at local level, not just with GP practices, describing it as ‘a social movement’.

She urged pharmacy leaders to ensure the sector was represented in local decision-making for the NNIP. ‘If you're not on that table, we will not be able to influence and tell people what community pharmacy can offer,’ she said.

Vicki Roberts, service development manager at Community Pharmacy England, said community pharmacies were already ‘at the centre of neighbourhoods’, but needed to be clear about their value and purpose.

‘We need to be clear about what pharmacy is and what it isn’t,’ she said. ‘We’re not all about free deliveries and MDS trays. Let’s make the case for pharmacy and be proud of the difference we make.’

She added that delivering the aims of the 10-year plan would require a cultural and mindset shift across primary care, alongside progress on governance, digital integration and funding.

Robert Severn, local pharmaceutical committee (LPC) support manager at the Company Chemists’ Association and chair of Nottinghamshire LPC, said contractors needed to see tangible benefits from neighbourhood working.

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‘Not every pharmacy can hold all the relationships, and that’s where LPCs come in,’ he said. ‘We need to show the value. When contractors see that neighbourhood engagement drives footfall and referrals, they’ll buy in.’

Asked what they wanted from the plan going forward, panellists called for investment, workforce support and clear commissioning to enable delivery.

Mr Lennox said: ‘Let’s bring what pharmacy offers – pharmaceutical care that allows GPs to focus on proactive care for complex patients – and let’s change the dynamic.’

Ms Kandula expressed an ambition for the sector to become ‘a centre for health promotion, lifestyle advice, point-of-care testing and long-term condition management’.

However, she also emphasised that ‘we need infrastructure, digital access and proper support’, and that ‘you can’t deliver 17 services and have three more landed on you without the resources to do it’.

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Ms Roberts echoed the call for sustainable foundations. ‘Without them, it’s very difficult to see how any of this will work,’ she said. ‘But there’s a growing optimism, and we need to build on that.’

Also at the Pharmacy Show last week, chief pharmaceutical officer for England, David Webb, said NHS England will do what it can to ensure pharmacy is part of the dialogue around the 10-year health plan and the move towards a neighbourhood health service.

But Mr Webb stressed that all pharmacists had a ‘part to play with this conversation and to advocate for the role of pharmacy in the care of our patients’.