The eagerly anticipated ‘Fuller Stocktake’ into primary care integration has been published today (26 May) by NHS England and NHS Improvement.
The National Pharmacy Association (NPA) described the document as a “clear signal” that integrated care systems must break through silos in primary care, and pointed to potential new opportunities for community pharmacies.
During the review, the NPA convened a sector-wide meeting with the team leading the stocktake, to explore community pharmacy’s place in the landscape of Integrated Care Systems (ICSs). NPA representatives sat on each of the review’s working groups.
The document states that “at the heart of the new vision for integrating primary care is bringing together previously siloed teams and professionals to do things differently to improve patient care for whole populations”. It calls for integrated neighbourhood “teams of teams” to evolve from Primary Care Networks. To tackle gaps in provision, in particular for the least well-served communities, ICSs should consider commissioning new providers. The report highlights roles for community pharmacy in urgent care and prevention including early diagnosis of cancers.
ICSs are encouraged to develop a “single system-wide approach to managing integrated urgent care to guarantee same-day care for patients”. They are also told to develop a primary care forum or network at system level, with a breadth of views including professional representation.
According to the NPA, this adds up to a significant opportunity for pharmacies to engage with the NHS at a local level.
NPA chief executive, Mark Lyonette, said: “The NPA is pleased to have worked with the Fuller team to ensure that the voice of community pharmacy was heard within this review. So often in the past community pharmacy has been barely recognised in key reviews. This document is a clear signal to ICSs to break through silos in primary care and to engage community pharmacy in a multidisciplinary push on prevention, urgent care and long term conditions. This is an invitation to be active partners in integrated care and that means investing time and energy in building relationships to improve local services.”
NPA board member Reena Barai served on two of the Fuller working groups. At a launch event for the report today, she said: “As a community pharmacist I am part of ‘team primary care’, which is bigger than general practice alone. This report will form the blueprint for partnership working as a ‘must do’ rather than a ‘nice-to-do’. In the last two years I’ve seen a growing desire for collaborative working, driven by the pandemic, but there’s a way to go yet.”
Reena pointed to the NHS Community Pharmacist Consultation Service and the Hypertension case finding service as examples of services requiring close collaborative working focused around the needs of patients.
Led by Dr Claire Fuller, the ‘Fuller Stocktake’ considered six themes during the spring of this year: Creating the right environment (for working together), People (workforce), Access (physical and non-physical), Working with communities, Governance and Data (for improving population health).
You can see the full report here: www.england.nhs.uk/publication/next-steps-for-integrating-primary-care-fuller-stocktake-report/