NPC community pharmacy collaborative launched
Sharing practice will be key to successful implementation of contract |
The 28 primary care trusts that have been chosen to host the new community pharmacy medicines management collaborative were announced by the National Prescribing Centre last week.
Richard Seal, director of medicines management at the NPC, explained
that the new programme forms part of the support offered by the Department
of Health to help implement the new community pharmacy contract in England.
The programme, called the community pharmacy framework collaborative
(CPFC), is due to start in July. It will consist of a series of workshops
in which PCTs will be encouraged to use a collaborative approach to tackle
elements of the new contract such as pharmaceutical needs assessment,
repeat dispensing, clinical governance and medicines use review. The
host PCTs will then communicate what they have learnt to other PCTs in
their area.
Mark Pilling is community pharmacy development manager at Knowsley PCT,
one of the sites involved in the programme. He said: “The CPFC
is a national programme that will provide us with access to a range of
skills and techniques to make improvements in community pharmacy development.
We will be learning from the other 27 teams and adopting ideas to fit
in with our local goals.” He added: “Being a part of the
collaborative is less about implementing the Government’s strategy
directly, and more about improving the work that community pharmacists
are already doing.”
John D’Arcy, chief executive of the National Pharmaceutical Association,
commented: “Implementation of the new contract is a challenge for
both community pharmacists and PCTs. The key to success is collaboration,
co-operation and shared learning. This collaborative will help to ensure
that the new contract is implemented to best effect.”
News feature p540 |
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