Mentions:
1: Steve Double (Con - St Austell and Newquay) I particularly welcome the Pharmacy First scheme, which was successfully piloted in Cornwall. - Speech Link
2: Penny Mordaunt (Con - Portsmouth North) Friend for welcoming the excellent service Pharmacy First, which is a much appreciated and convenient - Speech Link
Mentions:
1: Maria Caulfield (Con - Lewes) We have our Pharmacy First roll-out as well. That is all for general health purposes. - Speech Link
Found: . • Rolling out Pharmacy First – enabling patients to get treatment for seven common conditions directly
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many consultations have been carried out each week as part of Pharmacy First since its launch.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
98 percent of pharmacies have signed up to Deliver Pharmacy First and claimed more than 125,000 clinical pathways consultations for February, the first full month following launch. From May, the NHS Business Services Authority will publish monthly data on the number of consultations claimed.
Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she plans to increase the scope of the Pharmacy First programme.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Pharmacy First was launched on 31 January 2024, and as the service embeds, we will monitor and evaluate the service, and keep the conditions covered by Pharmacy First under review.
Asked by: David Morris (Conservative - Morecambe and Lunesdale)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department has plans to make (a) adult MMR and (b) shingles vaccines available in community pharmacies for people who meet the NHS eligibility criteria.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Routine vaccinations, including the shingles vaccine, are not currently available at community pharmacies via the National Health Service. This is with the exception of the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine where, in response to the current measles outbreak, some areas have stood up community pharmacy sites on a time-limited basis, to deliver the MMR vaccine to specific cohorts.
The NHS vaccination strategy signals an intent to give local systems the responsibility and flexibility to design and deliver vaccination services to meet their population needs. This includes commissioning the optimal provider network, which may include community pharmacy and hospital hubs, and continuing to use the expertise of primary care, including general practices and practice nurses, to maximise uptake.
Asked by: Peter Bottomley (Conservative - Worthing West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many pharmacies have closed in Worthing West constituency since 2019; and what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of these closures on NHS primary care services in Worthing West constituency.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
There were 19 pharmacies in Worthing West constituency on 31 December 2023. Between 31 December 2019 and 31 December 2023, three pharmacies closed and no new pharmacies opened in Worthing West.
Access to pharmaceutical services remains good. 99 percent of the population in Worthing West live within a 20-minute walk from a pharmacy. This exceeds the national average of 80 percent. In addition, residents of Worthing West can access distance selling pharmacies that operate nationally.
It is the role of local authorities in England to undertake pharmaceutical needs assessments for their areas, every three years, to ensure provision continues to meet their population’s needs. Integrated care boards have regard to those assessments when commissioning services and where a pharmacy closure impacts on the access to services, a new contractor can apply to open a pharmacy in the area.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to ensure that the IT systems used by (a) GPs and (b) community pharmacists enable the provision of one set of patient records.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Delivery plan for recovering access to primary care announced plans to significantly improve the digital infrastructure between general practices (GPs) and community pharmacies. This will see GPs and community pharmacies viewing and contributing to a single patient record via their respective IT systems. For example, the functionality to update the GP patient record will see pharmacy consultation outcomes arriving directly into the GP’s workflow for review and action, which will be rolled out in April and May 2024. The functionality to view all required information from the GP patient record from within the community pharmacy clinical system, will be rolled out in summer.
Asked by: Peter Bottomley (Conservative - Worthing West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of community pharmacy closures on other NHS services.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
There were 19 pharmacies in Worthing West constituency on 31 December 2023. Between 31 December 2019 and 31 December 2023, three pharmacies closed and no new pharmacies opened in Worthing West.
Access to pharmaceutical services remains good. 99 percent of the population in Worthing West live within a 20-minute walk from a pharmacy. This exceeds the national average of 80 percent. In addition, residents of Worthing West can access distance selling pharmacies that operate nationally.
It is the role of local authorities in England to undertake pharmaceutical needs assessments for their areas, every three years, to ensure provision continues to meet their population’s needs. Integrated care boards have regard to those assessments when commissioning services and where a pharmacy closure impacts on the access to services, a new contractor can apply to open a pharmacy in the area.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department has taken recent steps to help increase the supply of free lateral flow tests to people who are at risk of becoming seriously ill if they contract covid-19.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
This year, the National Health Service will offer free COVID-19 lateral flow tests and treatments to an additional 1.4 million people at the highest risk of severe illness, on top of the 3.9 million people already eligible for free COVID-19 lateral flow tests and treatments.
Those who are at highest risk of becoming seriously ill, who are eligible for COVID-19 treatments, can continue to access free COVID-19 lateral flow tests from their local pharmacy. This cohort of people are encouraged to test regularly, to gain timely access to treatments. A full list of those who are eligible, as well as information on how to access the tests, is available at the following link:
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/covid-19/treatments-for-covid-19/