Pharmacy Voice and the Local Government Association today convene in Westminster a roundtable of local authority, public health and pharmacy leaders to discuss how they can better work together to realise community pharmacy’s potential in promoting public health and supporting independent living. The event takes place as councils in England are set to take on more responsibility for public health, as laid out in the Health and Social Care Bill which reaches a critical parliamentary stage this week.
Pharmacy Voice chairman, Ian Facer, said:
“Government plans to transfer responsibilities for public health into local government, and new arrangements for local authority oversight of health commissioning, mean that ties between councillors and healthcare professionals such as pharmacists are set to grow. This roundtable will help local authorities better understand what community pharmacy can do, and pave the way for working together to support the public in future. Many councillors and council officials are instinctively supportive of their local pharmacies, as important community facilities as well as healthcare units. Yet councils’ new formal duties, such as preparing Pharmaceutical Needs Assessments and commissioning public health services will require a detailed knowledge of our sector.”
Graham Jones, Leader of Berkshire Council and also a community pharmacist, is opening the event. He said:
“Community pharmacies straddle the ground where the local authority and NHS worlds meet. They are an integral part of the NHS, a vital local service and a community facility. As a councillor and a practicing community pharmacist, I see the synergies daily.”
The agenda covers:
A written report of the discussions will be distributed to local authorities across England.
TheHealthy Lives Healthy People update report (Department of Health 2011)stated ‘local authorities will want to reflect on how they can best involve existing networks of community groups, pharmacies and third sector providers, and develop new....approaches to improving health and wellbeing’.