2018 Pharmaceutical needs assessment consultation
Kent County Council
Opens: 25 November 2017
Closes: 22 January 2018
How often do you use your local pharmacy? Does your town need more? These are some of the questions being put to Kent residents in a new consultation.
Pharmaceutical Needs Assessments (PNAs) are used by commissioners such as Kent County Council and local NHS Clinical Commissioning Groups to identify local health needs that could be addressed by these services, and by NHS England to decide whether to approve applications for new pharmacies in an area.
Residents and health professionals are being urged for their views in a brief questionnaire. KCC Deputy Director of Public Health, Allison Duggal said: “We have a statutory responsibility to look at the need for pharmaceutical services in Kent and the essential services they currently provide, including dispensing, providing support and advice on health and medicines, collection of medicine waste and supporting public health campaigns. We’d like to encourage as many people as possible to take part in this consultation so we can shape the future of pharmaceutical services in the county.”
The important role that pharmacists can play is highlighted in the NHS England ‘Stay Well This Winter’ campaign which KCC supports, urging people feeling under the weather this winter to avoid A&E, and to instead consider visiting their local pharmacy for quick, early advice. This is especially important over the winter months – when people are more likely to become ill or feel poorly.
Going to the pharmacy early will give you access to medication and advice on common ailments, but they can also:
- provide expert advice to manage long term conditions and let you know if you need to see your GP or make a hospital appointment;
- Give you advice on how to care for an elderly relative or friend who has a bad cough, trouble breathing, cold or sore throat.
Consultation details
On 1st April 2013, statutory responsibility for publishing and updating a statement of the need for pharmaceutical services passed to Health and Wellbeing Boards. This statement of need is referred to as a Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment (PNA). The PNA was published for April 2015.
It is now time to refresh the PNA and publish a revised version for April 2018. The Health and Wellbeing Board is therefore consulting with Health and Social care professionals, organisations and people that use pharmacy services. Feedback from the consultation will be used to inform the PNA before a final version is approved by the Health and Wellbeing Board and published for April 2018.
Background
Pharmaceutical Needs Assessments are used by the NHS to decide whether to approve applications for new pharmacies in an area and by commissioners to identify local health needs that could be addressed by pharmacy services.
This draft PNA describes the needs for the population of Kent, with more detailed assessments produced for each Clinical Commissioning Group locality. A separate PNA will be produced by the Medway Health and Wellbeing Board.
The PNA includes information on:
- Pharmacies in Kent and the essential services they currently provide, including dispensing, providing advice on health, collection of medicine waste and supporting public health campaigns as well as the advanced services such as medicine use reviews and support when starting a new medicine.
- Other providers of pharmaceutical services, such as dispensing GP practices and appliance contractors.
- Relevant maps relating to Kent and providers of pharmaceutical services in the area.
- Services in neighbouring Health and Wellbeing Board areas such as Medway that might affect the need for services in Kent.
- Potential gaps in provision that could be met by providing more pharmacy services, or through opening more pharmacies, and likely future needs.
The PNA will not include information on:
- Locally commissioned services provided by multiple healthcare providers including pharmacies which are not considered to be ‘pharmaceutical services’ e.g. stop smoking services, sexual health services etc. However, it has been agreed that information about these locally commissioned services will be produced alongside the PNA for completeness.
- Non NHS services provided privately by pharmacies such as delivery and collection, travel clinics, filling of multi-compartment aids and the sale of ‘over the counter’ medicines.
Have your say
To respond to the consultation please fill in the relevant online questionnaire in the ‘Respond to this Consultation’ section below. One is for Health and Social Care professionals and organisations and the other is for the general public. Alternatively, you can download the relevant Word version and submit it to PNA@kent.gov.uk or by post to PNA Consultation, Public Health, Sessions House, Kent County Council, County Road, Maidstone, Kent, ME14 1XQ.
Alternative formats: If you require any of the consultation material in an alternative format or language please email alternativeformats@kent.gov.uk or call 03000 421553 (text relay service number: 18001 03000 421553). This number goes to an answering machine, which is monitored during office hours.
Privacy: Kent County Council collects and processes personal information in order to provide a range of public services. Kent County Council respects the privacy of individuals and endeavours to ensure personal information is collected fairly, lawfully, and in compliance with the Data Protection Act 1998.
Please ensure your response reaches us by 22 January 2018.
We recommend using Google Chrome if viewing and downloading consultation documents from mobile devices.
Consultation Documents
- Consultation Questionnaire for General Public – PDF Version
- Consultation Questionnaire for General Public – Word Version
- Consultation Questionnaire for Health / Social Care Professionals and Organisations – PDF Version
- Consultation Questionnaire for Health / Social Care Professionals and Organisations – Word Version
- Kent Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment – EqIA (PDF Version)
- Kent Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment – EqIA (Word Version)
Draft 2018 Pharmaceutical needs assessment
The draft documents below form the draft 2018 pharmaceutical needs assessment for Kent and Ashford CCG, and are for consultation. Needs assessments have been produced for each Clinical Commissioning Group in Kent, as well as Kent-wide.
The assessments for other CCGs can be downloaded from:
www.kpho.org.uk/health-intelligence/service-provision/pharmacy/pharmaceutical-needs-assessments/pharmaceutical-needs-assessment-2018-consultation
- Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment Kent (PDF, 823.5 KB)
- Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment Ashford CCG (PDF, 1002.7 KB)
Respond to this Consultation
Consultation Links
Consultation Summary
| Name | Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment |
|---|---|
| Description | A revised version of the Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment will be published for April 2018. The Health and Wellbeing Board is therefore consulting with Health and Social care professionals, organisations and people that use pharmacy services to help inform the content of the PNA. |
| Dates | From 15 Nov 2017 at 10:00 to 22 Jan 2018 at 23:59. |
| Status | Open |
| Consulting Organisation Type | Kent County Council |
| Consulting Organisation Name | Kent County Council |
| District / Borough areas affected by the consultation | |
| Consultation Topic | General interest, Children and families |
| Consultation Methods | Online survey / questionnaire / forms |
| Contact Details | Email :- PNA@kent.gov.uk
Postal Address:- PNA Consultation, |
Kent County Council 15 November 2017
Press release: https://kccmediahub.net/testing-temperature-pharmacy-needs-kent-2745
Consultation page: https://consultations.kent.gov.uk/consult.ti/pharmaceuticalneeds/consultationHome