Thursday 21st November 2024                   

Due to popular demand, we at Community Pharmacy Devon have decided to review our communications and bring you a weekly newsletter that will provide a brief overview of important activity.

As always, if you have any feedback or comments, please contact us by email at admin@cpdevon.org.uk.

The NHS in Devon has launched local engagement around the 10 Year Health Plan, which will run in parallel with, and support, the national Change NHS campaign. Between November 2024 and 28 February 2025 members of the public and patients in Devon, as well as NHS staff and healthcare experts, are being invited to share their experiences, views and ideas for improving the NHS. 

People are being encouraged to fill in the local survey even if they have already completed the national one. This is to ensure that insights from local people can be used to improve local services.

The local and national public engagement exercises will help shape the government’s 10 Year Health Plan, which will be published in spring 2025 and will be underlined by three big shifts in healthcare:

• from hospital to community
• from analogue to digital
• from sickness to prevention 

Get involved

Patients, the public and staff can get involved in two ways:

1. Submit ideas and feedback through a survey specifically for health and care staff on the One Devon webpage.
2. Join events taking place across the county and online. These will be focussed on the three big shifts in healthcare to make the NHS fit for the future – moving it from analogue to digital, hospital to community, and sickness to prevention.

Information about all the opportunities for patients, staff and the public to get involved is available on the One Devon webpage and will continue to be updated over the coming months.

The next contraception training evening event for pharmacists will be held on Thursday 13th February at 7-9pm. It will cover Emergency Hormonal Contraception (EHC), Chlamydia Screening, Progesterone only pill (POP), Combined pill (COC)  and a "Talking With Young People" Training Session for pharmacists.

This event will be held in Exeter with a maximum capacity of 20 people so book early to avoid disappointment! Food will be provided. Further events in Torbay and Barnstaple to follow 

You can book a place here.

We met with the PCN leads this week to discuss some of the current pressures facing community pharmacy and to work on a plan to best support you all over the coming year.

It was a productive session with lots of ideas exchanged and opinions discussed around what the next 12 months might hold and how the LPC can assist with any changes it may bring. Promotion and advertising of services was on the list of discussion points alongside requests for additional training on services.

PCN leads function as a point of contact for local community pharmacies and for general practices in the PCN, if you would like to know who your local PCN lead is, please click here. 

Over the next few weeks Pharmacy pressures will ramp up as an increased number of patients order in their medication before the Christmas period. There may also be an additional demand on services so now is a good time to review what you currently offer and ensure that you are doing the following:

1. 1. Claiming for all of the services that you currently offer – if you are unsure about the process please confirm this either with the commissioner of the service or with us, here at the office.
   2. Review services that you offer and ensure that you are being paid for these services and not offering them for free!

Always remember your LPC office team will not support something that does not have a service level payment.

Over the last few months we have been busily arranging a meeting with local Devon MPs across all Devon constituencies and key representatives from all four pillars of primary care to take place in London on the 20th November. We had spent a few weeks devising a set of questions to help frame the discussion and organising how the meeting would be structured.

The long-awaited meeting took place yesterday and we had a total of 3 MPs and 1 parliamentary assistant in attendance, including Steve Race who, alongside his role as MP for Exeter, is also a member of the All Party Pharmacy Group. David Bearman was there to represent community pharmacy and ask the relevant questions. The meeting went well and issues of funding and the future of pharmacy were all discussed. We are hoping for some follow-up pharmacy visits from MPs and future, local meetings taking place. We will, of course, keep you updated.

CPE and Healthwatch England, have today launched an online Pharmacy First patient survey that pharmacy owners can direct patients to after receiving the service.

They are asking pharmacy teams providing Pharmacy First to help promote the survey using the resources that have been developed. To encourage as many responses as possible, the survey has been designed to be quick and easy taking around two minutes to complete it. To take part, please click here.

If you have a positive news story to share with us please send it to admin@cpdevon.org.uk and it will be featured in an upcoming edition of the review. If featured, you will also win a surprise gift for you and your team up to the value of £25!

Click the name you need to email them directly: