Warwickshire Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment Consultation

Overview

From 1 April 2013, every Health and Wellbeing Board (HWB) in England has a responsibility to publish a Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment (PNA). This statement summarises the need for pharmaceutical services amongst the population.

The PNA will look at the level of pharmaceutical services across Warwickshire and whether it meets the current and future needs of the local population. Where any potential gaps in service provision are found, recommendations will be made to address these within the document.

The consultation

In order to understand whether local pharmacy services have been evaluated accordingly, this consultation is being conducted which allows you to share your views on the draft PNA document.

This is the second PNA that has been undertaken by Warwickshire’s Health and Wellbeing Board, the first was published in 2015. This updated version will be ready for publication by 1 April 2018 and will be valid until March 2021.

All of the feedback provided will remain anonymous and will be kept strictly confidential. It will be used only for the stated purposes and will not be passed on to any third party.

Note to Stakeholders 

Following the publication of the draft document, additional information has been made available that alters some of the draft content and recommendations. We have flagged this below for consideration as part of the consultation.

The changes are highlighted and pages and sections identified for ease of reference.

On Smoking cessation

Pages 11 (executive summary), 14 and  page 77 (enhanced locally commissioned services) refer to the Locally Commissioned Service - Smoking Cessation

The information on the number of pharmacies providing the service and the levels of provision was incorrect and has been updated.

The updated information is:

There are currently 33 pharmacies in Warwickshire providing the Smoking Cessation service. Results from the public survey showed that the service was one of the most recognised services among respondents (77.7%) and levels of satisfaction are high.

The Smoking Cessation service has varied levels of provision across the county and would benefit from increased provision in areas of deprivation.

On Future provision

Pages 6 (executive summary) and 33 (understanding local need) make recommendations on future provision. This has been expanded to be clear about the requirements for any new provision moving forward.

The population is set to increase due to several large-scale housing developments as described in section 4.6. Consideration when assessing needs for local pharmaceutical service providers should be based on a range of local factors specific to each development site. In areas of significant development and population growth, additional future pharmacy provision will need to be considered. Any new pharmacy provision would be encouraged to become a Healthy Living Pharmacy level 1 status which provides the opportunity to commission prevention services that meets the needs of the local population. The HWB will monitor the development of major housing sites and produce supplementary statements to the PNA if deemed necessary, to ensure that appropriate information on pharmacy needs is available.

What happens next

This consultation is now closed. Thank you to everyone who took the time to give us their views.

All of the feedback will be considered and an updated version of the Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment will be ready for publication by 1st April. This will be valid until March 2021.