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Wirral Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment

Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment 2022 - 2025

Legislation (view here) required Wirral’s Health & Wellbeing Board to produce the next generation of its local Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment (PNA), which is a legal, comprehensive, assessment of the current and future needs of local people for community pharmacy services. Wirral’s latest and so current PNA can be viewed below.

The PNA is used to inform community pharmacy commissioning decisions by Local Authorities, NHS England and Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs).

To help inform the next generation PNA from 2022 we have developed as an accurate and up-to-date overview of the use and access to pharmacy services that serve Wirral residents.

Wirral Council’s Intelligence Service, Public Health Team and partners from across Wirral have led the development and production of the new PNA leading to ratification by HWBB and it was published on this site on Friday 30th September 2022.

Please see latest PNA documents below.

Please note: The PDF files related to the Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment 2022 - 2025 may not be suitable to view for people with disabilities, users of assistive technology or mobile phone devices. Please contact wirralintelligenceservice@wirral.gov.uk if you would like this document in an accessible format.

 


Previous three Pharmaceutical Needs Assessments for 2018 - 2021, 2015 - 2018 and 2011 - 2015, and their associated content are below: 


Community Pharmacy providers list

A key element of the Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment (PNA) legislation is the requirement to maintain an up to date providers list and map that shows the geographic position of those providers.

Working with NHS England - North (Cheshire & Merseyside) colleagues we will now be providing an updated list more often.

Please call back regularly to check for any changes in local provision.


Supplementary Statements

A Supplementary Statement records changes to the provision of pharmacy services since the publication of the Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment.

Supplementary Statements are issued for opening or closure of pharmacies or when there are pharmaceutical needs assessment changes that are minor and would be relevant for granting of applications. Once issued, a supplementary statement becomes part of the PNA and is published on this webpage.

All published supplementary statements are listed below:

To be added to when applications received 

Please note:

The Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment is subject to development through the supplementary statements therefore the operational PNA content will be subject to ongoing update. This means maps and corresponding legends may show small differences to latest PNA content.

If you have a comment, query or suggestion please email wirralintelligenceservice@wirral.gov.uk 

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Pharmacy Inspections

Since July 2019 the General Pharmaceutical Council now publish pharmacy inspection reports on their website.

Members of the public can find out if a pharmacy inspected since April 2019 has met or has not met all of the standards for registered pharmacies. 

You can search for pharmacy inspection reports by postcode, street, town or pharmacy name, and the site will be updated on a daily basis with new reports.

Where a pharmacy inspection finds that a pharmacy has not met all the standards, an improvement action plan will also be published. This assures the public that improvement is underway, informs them of the steps the pharmacy is taking to meet the standards, and that this is being monitored.

This major change for pharmacy will help to inform and assure the public about the standards they can expect from pharmacies and drive improvement in pharmacy services.

GPC also published a new report sharing what we have learnt from carrying out over 14,000 inspections covering every pharmacy in Great Britain from 2013 to 2018. This independent analysis showed that most pharmacies (over 85%) met the required standards. It also identified some key themes, patterns and trends which every pharmacy and pharmacy team could use to learn from and improve.

Go to latest Pharmacy Inspections

 

Background to local Pharmaceutical Needs Assessments

Since 1st April 2013, every Health and Wellbeing Board (HWB) in England have had the statutory responsibility to publish and keep up to date a statement of the needs for pharmaceutical services of the population in its area, referred to as its pharmaceutical needs assessment, or PNA for short. The PNA is expected to present a picture of pharmaceutical service provision, reviewed access, range and adequacy of service provision and choice of provider to build on the sectors capacity and capability to help address health inequalities and support self-care in areas of greatest need. 

In 2009 the Health Act placed a requirement on all PCTs to produce and publish a Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment by February 2011, designed to supplement JSNAs.

The Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment (PNA) is expected to present a picture of pharmaceutical service provision, reviewing access, range and adequacy of service provision and choice of provider to build on the sectors capacity and capability to help address health inequalities and support self-care in areas of greatest need.

Wirral's previous two and most recent PNA are available on these webpages and since April 2013 the publication of changes, development and future production and publication have been the local authority’s responsibility on behalf of Wirral's Health and Wellbeing Board.

The PNA is an assessment of need of a type of service rather than a service provided by a particular type of contractor. It is important to recognise that pharmaceutical services can be provided by Dispensing Doctors, Dispensing Appliance Contractors, Local Pharmaceutical Service Contractors as well as Community Pharmacies

A systematic approach has been taken to identify pharmaceutical need based on

  • Access to pharmaceutical services
  • Adequacy of Service
  • Provision linked to the JSNA priorities

PNAs are used by the local NHS Commissioning Board to make decisions on which NHS funded services need to be provided by local community pharmacies and other providers.

PNAs are also relevant when deciding if new pharmacies are needed, in response to applications by businesses, including independent owners and large pharmacy companies. Applications by applicants and existing NHS contractors can be open to legal challenge if not handled properly.

As a consequence it is important to have an up to date and locally relevant PNA.

From 1st April 2013, every Health and Wellbeing Board (HWBB) in England had the statutory responsibility to publish and keep up to date a statement of the needs for pharmaceutical services of the population in its area, referred to as its pharmaceutical needs assessment (PNA).

Wirral's Health and Wellbeing Board (HWBB), in conjunction with Wirral Council, have this legal duty to publish any supplementary statements explaining any changes through new or changed local service provision. 

HWBBs ensure that the NHS Commissioning Board and its Area Teams have access to the PNA.

In the first instance - following the 2012 Health and Social Care Act amendments - where each HWBB had to publish its own revised PNA for its area by 1st April 2015. This required board-level sign-off and a period of public consultation beforehand. The latest PNA is published on these webpages.