England’s new Chief Pharmaceutical Officer praises work of community pharmacy

The newly appointed Chief Pharmaceutical Officer (CPhO) for England, David Webb has set out his personal priorities for the next few years to support the community pharmacy in achieving the shared ambitions at national and local level.

In his keynote speech in person at the National Meeting of LPCs and PSNC, David thanked community pharmacy teams for their work throughout the pandemic to support their local communities and reflected on the many achievements so far.

He said that he intends to be the CPhO “for all members of the two pharmacy professions, in all parts of the NHS.”

“Colleagues in community pharmacy have emphatically shown you are part of the NHS team and delivered as a sector, and that this has further enhanced your credibility in terms of how we continue to integrate pharmacy into the NHS and pathways of care,” said the CPhO.

David went on to give an overview of Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) and outlined the support that will be available for community pharmacy in an ICS. He also went into some detail about the role and responsibilities of the new ICS Community Pharmacy Clinical Leads, whose role will be to:

• Support the integration of community pharmacy clinical services into ICSs as part of recognised NHS pathways;
• support community pharmacies to effectively engage with Primary Care Networks (PCNs); and
• drive mobilisation within local systems to support the scaling and embedding of new clinical services that are developed through the Pharmacy Integration Fund (PhIF) pilots and then into the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF) commissioned services.

“The next few years are pivotal to the profession and we need to ensure the right close working relationship are in place nationally, at system level and locally, if we are to achieve all our ambitions,” he stated.

David’s speech was welcomed by the LPCs who attended the meeting who said that it was great to hear directly from the CPhO about his positive plans for the future of the sector.

James Wood, PSNC’s director of contractor and LPC support, also commented: “It is clear that David appreciates the phenomenal efforts of community pharmacy teams throughout the pandemic and the value of community pharmacy to the nation’s health. PSNC looks forward to working with David on shared ambitions in the months and years ahead to ensure that our joint vision for the sector becomes a reality.”