Draft Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment for Wiltshire to be reviewed by key partners and stakeholders

Wiltshire Council's Health and Wellbeing Board and partners have written a draft Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment (PNA) based on the information gathered from various sources including Joint Strategic Needs Assessment, Community Pharmacy service provisions and feedback of a recent public survey about Wiltshire's pharmaceutical services.

Pharmaceutical services is a collective term for a range of services commissioned by NHS England and NHS Improvement to supply drugs, medicines and listed appliances ordered via NHS prescriptions to individuals. Pharmaceutical services can include dispensing practices, dispensing appliance contractors, distance selling pharmacies and community pharmacies.  

The updated pharmaceutical needs assessment report, which was previously last published in 2018, will be a key tool to identifying what is needed at a local level and gaps in provision to support the commissioning for pharmaceutical services until 2025.

As part of the public survey, Wiltshire residents were asked to provide their normal routines with regard to accessing pharmaceutical services and an opportunity to feedback on what works well for them, what might need to be worked on or improved, and overall, what they want from these types of services.

In total, 465 people responded to the survey. Over half (59%) of the respondents used a pharmacy at least once a month in January to December 2021. The top three reasons to visit/use pharmaceutical services were stated as 'collecting a prescription for myself', 'collecting a prescription for someone else', and 'to buy medicines for myself'. 

In terms of usage of other services provided by pharmacies, the survey showed that the pandemic has significantly changed the pattern of their usage. Collecting COVID-19 testing kit accounted for 37% of all reported services used by the respondents, while seasonal flu vaccinations (25%) and COVID-19 vaccinations (16%) accounted for just over 40% of pharmaceutical services used.

The draft needs assessment report is now subject to a 60-day statutory consultation, for key stakeholders to provide feedback, including neighbouring county Health & Wellbeing Boards, Wiltshire NHS providers, community pharmacies and GP surgeries. Although this phase of the process is primarily for stakeholders, members of the public are welcome to take part in the consultation too.   Responses to this consultation will be analysed, any changes required to the PNA will be considered, and final sign-off is expected by autumn this year at the Health and Wellbeing Board.

The survey for the consultation can be found at: www.wiltshire.gov.uk/public-health/pharmaceutical-needs-assessment-2022. The survey is open between 7 April 2022 to 13 June 2022.

Cllr Richard Clewer, Chairman of the Wiltshire Health and Wellbeing Board, said:  I would like to thank all members of the public who took the time to give their feedback on the pharmacy services in Wiltshire.

The results of the survey have given us a good indication of what people want and need, and allowed us to assess how the systems and services we have in Wiltshire are meeting their needs.

We have seen a change in the way that people access these types of services due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so it is timely for this review, which will help to shape how we look to move forward and plan for future service provision.

Effective pharmaceutical services are an integrated part of our healthcare services and are vital to the health and wellbeing of the population.