NHS announces £42 million pharmacy integration fund

NHS England has announced a £42m pharmacy integration fund (PhIF) to support pharmacy to transform how it operates across the NHS for the benefit of patients over the next two years.

It follows the announcement of the Department of Health’s new Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework and associated funding.

Aims of the fund

• to support the development of clinical pharmacy practice in a wider range of primary care settings, resulting in more integrated and effective NHS primary care for patients
• to drive greater use of community pharmacists and pharmacy technicians in new, integrated local care models
• to improve access for patients, relieve the pressure on GPs and accident and emergency departments, ensure best use of medicines, drive better value and improve patient outcomes

Chief Pharmaceutical Officer for England Dr Keith Ridge said, “NHS England is making this extra money available to help modernise the pharmacy sector and make the most of pharmacists’ skills.  We are not asking community pharmacy to do more, but to work with us over the next five years to develop how we can do things differently. There is no doubt that the community pharmacy profession will have to change how it works but we will be working closely with them to support and enable this process.

Community pharmacists are skilled, registered health professionals whose initial training is one year less than their medical colleagues. They can be trusted to ensure the patient’s best interests are at the heart of the care they deliver. Pharmacists are now undergoing training in many areas to become prescribers in their own right and work closely with their general practice colleagues to improve access to clinical services. This is central to helping patients get optimal outcomes from their medicines.

‘catalyst for transformation’

As a result of new ways of working in general practice, nearly 500 pharmacists are currently working in GP surgeries and care homes, enabling more people to benefit from the clinical expertise of pharmacists and relieve the pressure on general practice waiting times and on hospital admissions.

NHS England will ensure they work closely with existing community and hospital pharmacists so this is about transforming community pharmacy for the benefit of the public.

Initiatives under the fund already include:

1. Two work streams aimed at integrating community pharmacy into the NHS’ national urgent care system, to run in parallel from December 2016 to April 2018: the urgent medicines supply service and the urgent minor illness care work with NHS 111.
2. Health Education England has been commissioned to produce a workforce plan for pharmacy professionals in primary care to be able inform the workforce development needs for pharmacy across the health care system linking with the work they have already done in secondary care. We expect this to be ready by Spring 2017
3. From April 2017: deployment of pharmacy professionals in care homes and funding workforce development for pharmacists who work in care homes including a prescribing qualification.
4. From April 2017: there will be funding for pharmacists working in urgent care clinical hubs, such as NHS 111, integrated urgent care clinical hubs or GP out of hours services, and again this will include a prescribing qualification.
5. There will be educational grants for community pharmacists to access postgraduate clinical pharmacy education and training courses up to diploma level from April 2017.
6. Also from April 2017, a programme of pharmacy technician clinical leadership development will be initiated.
7. An agreed priority will be to evaluate the impact of digital technologies on the health care system to improve efficiencies and modernise.

The governance of the fund is overseen by an NHS England Pharmacy Integration Oversight Group including representation from CCGs, NHS England regions, General Practice, Patients and Carers, Department of Health, Health Education England and Public Health England.