The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 279 No 7470 p314
22 September 2007

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Monday 24 September 2007 is the first day of pharmacy practice-based commissioning week (see p317). This may not sound like a barrel of laughs, but for all those pharmacists in England who have not yet made any attempt to become involved with PBC, now is their chance.

The week is a joint initiative of a number of pharmacy bodies — including the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, the National Pharmacy Association and the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee — and is designed to show that PBC is essential to the future of community pharmacy.

Although some pharmacists may feel intimidated by the prospect of taking on yet more responsibilities, there are some straightforward things they can do to take advantage of the week — even if it is only to find out what is already happening in their area.

So what can pharmacists do now if they have not yet engaged with the commissioning process? First, they should read an article in this week’s Society section that outlines the issues and makes some suggestions about what to do in the longer term, as well as giving some examples of where pharmacists have become involved with service redesign (p333).

They could then contact their local pharmaceutical committee secretaries. LPC secretaries should have a good idea about what pharmacy PBC involvement there already is in their local areas, and where initiatives require support and more pharmacy input. LPC secretaries should also be able to suggest people directly involved in commissioning, either at the primary care trust level or in GPs’ practices, as well as other pharmacists who can give insights into the commissioning process.

Up until now, pharmacists have been slow to become involved in commissioning; but they are not the only ones. This week, PCTs were criticised by the Confederation of British Industry for not commissioning services from groups other than GPs — services which, if they were more accessible, would help reduce the burden of days lost from work through ill health (p315). This is a missed opportunity as far as the CBI is concerned.

There are two other related lessons that can be learnt from the pages of The Journal this week. The first is that team working — particularly across different professions — is essential for successful involvement in PBC. An article in the Pharmacy 2020 series (p330) may give some ideas to pharmacists who may believe that they are professionally isolated.

Secondly, for those who want to go further than influencing local GPs or PCT staff, our News feature (p321) gives some ideas on how to catch the attention of MPs and how to use that as a stepping stone to making pharmacy’s voice heard more clearly at the highest political level. Individual pharmacists can do a great deal to raise their own profile as well as the profession’s.

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