Agenda item

3.00 p.m.

To consider the Oxfordshire Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment (PNA) 2022

The Board considered a report by the Deputy Director of Public Health, David Munday, RECOMMENDING that the Health and Wellbeing Board –

(i)    Accept the draft Oxfordshire Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment (PNA) 2022 for publication as a report of the Health and Wellbeing Board, and as fulfilment of the Board’s statutory duty to publish a PNA at least once every three years.

(ii)   Note that the PNA [had] not identified any gaps in general access to community pharmacies in the present situation in Oxfordshire and in the expected situation in Oxfordshire to 2025, that is, during the lifetime of the current PNA.

(iii) Note that NHS Resolution [had] adjudicated that a new pharmacy could be opened in Upper Heyford in Cherwell.

(iv) [That] special note should be made of the situation in the centre of Oxford City, where there was, at present, one large pharmacy [and that] the public had identified a need for service improvement and extra choice [and that] a second pharmacy in central Oxford could provide this.

(v)   Note that the Valley Park Housing development, west of Didcot, part of the Didcot conurbation and in Vale of White Horse, may have a future need after building [was] completed and as the community [matured], but beyond the lifetime of the current PNA.

(vi) Adopt all the Recommendations of the Oxfordshire Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment 2022.

Mr Munday presented the report.

In the subsequent discussion, the following points were raised.

(a)  Referring to the Paragraph starting “Oxford City: Special Note” on page 78 of the agenda pack, it was noted there used to be two pharmacies in Central Oxford until the pharmacy in Boswell’s closed in 2020. Given the large community served by the Boswell Pharmacy, and the high concentration of GPs in the area, it was proposed that the Board support Recommendation (iii)[1] on Page 243: Oxfordshire Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment (PNA) 2022 – Recommendations.

It was noted that the recommendation would allow NHS England to consider applications to open a pharmacy in Central Oxford in accordance with the relevant section of the PNA.

(b)  Regarding pharmacy opening hours, the Board was advised that all pharmacies were required to confirm their core opening hours, or any proposed variation to their core opening hours, with NHS England. It was not practicable to map the core hours of all 105 pharmacies in Oxfordshire but the requirement that pharmacies notify NHS England about their core hours was a means of ensuring that there was sufficient pharmacy provision at different times of the week.

(c)   It was noted that, during the coronavirus pandemic, GP surgery hours and pharmacy opening hours did not always correspond, and it was for NHS England to set the guidelines on opening hours. It was noted that the Oxford Clinical Commissioning Group (OCCG), the Medicine Optimisation Team, and the NHS England Regional Teams would liaise on local issues and on how best to coordinate future working.

(d)  If there were concerns about local opening hours, which was beyond the scope of the PNA, it would be appropriate to raise these concerns with NHS England and there were existing mechanisms for this.

(e)  Under the Heading “Comments and Emerging Themes from the Consultation on the Draft PNA: General Issues” on Page 233 of the Agenda Pack, where it was stated that “Communication between GPs and pharmacists is often not good leading to greater misunderstandings about medicines and health problems”, it was proposed that these issues were best dealt with at a local level and had been included in the PNA to provide a comprehensive overview of the issues relevant to the PNA.

(f)    It was noted that the arrangement whereby Primary Care Networks (PCNs) were allocated a PCN Community Pharmacist had been disrupted because of the coronavirus pandemic.

(g)  The production of the PNA was a statutory requirement with a defined remit. Issues beyond the remit of the PNA, such as access times and joint working with Primary Care, could be considered by the PCN.

RESOLVED: to approve the report’s recommendations.