Agenda item

Ms Kelly O’Neill, the Council’s Director of Public Health, advised that the authority had been given responsibility in 2013 for publishing the Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment (PNA) every three years.  The PNA was used by NHS England to look at the needs of the local population and establish whether or not there was sufficient access.  It was on track for meeting the 1 October 2025 publication deadline. 

Members were advised that the PNA had been developed by the Council’s Business Intelligence Team.  Questionnaires had been sent out to the pharmacies in Hillingdon to establish what services they provided so that these could be mapped across the Borough.  This included questions in relation to opening hours and the additional services that they provided (such as stop smoking services).  There were also links to the North West London Integrated Care Board (NWL ICB) shared needs assessment.  It was noted that residents should not have to travel more than 20 minutes to access a pharmacy. 

Ms O’Neill advised that five pharmacies had recently closed down which would need to be reflected in the PNA.  A statutory 60+ day public consultation would be undertaken to determine the positives and negatives around local access. 

An informal steering group had been set up which looked at updating the demographics.  The group included representation from the Local Pharmaceutical Committee. 

Members were advised that the neighbourhoods would be able to use the PNA to review the services that were provided in each area.  Each neighbourhood had been mapped and linked to local pharmacies but there was a lot more work that would need to be undertaken. 

Ms O’Neill advised that the PNA aligned with the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment but was not embedded therein.  These documents needed to be considered together but were distinct documents.  It was queried whether the information collected could be broken down, for example, to identify the number of vaccinations undertaken by GPs and pharmacies.  Ms O’Neill advised that this data was amalgamated at a NWL level but should be able to be broken down.  Although vaccinations received by young people were not usually done by GPs, Hillingdon had the highest MMR vaccination rate in NWL. 

Pharmacies had started giving more vaccinations during the pandemic and it had increased since then.  Pharmacies had become more entrepreneurial and were now able to deal with a number of common minor illnesses as well give out emergency prescriptions.  Primary Care Networks were also employing pharmacies now to undertake medicines checks and NWL ICB had been planning for winter by asking GP practices whether or not they wanted to be involved in the vaccination programme. 

It was queried whether services were delivered well.  Professor Goodman advised that data had been collected in relation to Pharmacy First but that further investigations were needed to determine whether there had been a causal reduction at ED and GPs.

RESOLVED:  That it be noted that:

1.    work on the 2025 PNA was on track for publication by 1 October 2025;

2.    since the last PNA (published in 2022), five pharmacies had closed;

3.    data analysis of Borough demographics, health and pharmacy/prescribing data was underway;

4.    all pharmacies within the Borough had been issued with a questionnaire; and

5.    the discussion be noted.