Agenda and minutes

None.

The Chair advised that due to the short turnaround that the minutes from 3 October 2023 and 11 October 2023 would be available at the next meeting.

To receive an update on the work of the Health & Wellbeing Board.

The Democracy Officer (Scrutiny) informed Members that an update from each Health and Wellbeing Board meeting would be provided to the Committee.

To receive an update on the work of the Joint Health Overview & Scrutiny Committee.

The Committee were informed that the next scheduled meeting of the Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 24 October 2023 was scheduled to take place in Shropshire with a focus on Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust Performance.

To receive a verbal report on Pharmaceutical Services from NHS Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin.

Members received a presentation from the Integrated Care System Community Pharmacy Clinical Lead that provided an overview and summary of the work of Community Pharmacy. Members were informed that there was a lack of awareness of the work done by Community Pharmacists and that it was seen as an underutilised resource both locally and nationally.

Members were informed that community pharmacy consisted of three main professions, these were; the pharmacists, the technicians and the support staff. Many pharmacists that were newly qualified would be qualified to Masters Level and as part of the National change would be social prescribers. It was quoted that 95% of people visited a pharmacy once a year and it was said that pharmacists had more contact with patients than any other healthcare profession.

The Integrated Care System Community Pharmacy Clinical Lead advised Members that the challenges faced was as a result of the lack of awareness of what community pharmacy can offer. Following this, a summary of the focus of community pharmacy was presented to Members. It was heard that community pharmacy had five main focuses. These were; the discharge of medicine services, to provide consultation, to provide hypertension case-finding service, to provide pharmacy contraception service and to provide extended care within the Midlands. Community pharmacy would be available across three areas of Shropshire and Telford and Wrekin.

Following the presentation, Members posed the following questions.

Were majority of the sites across Telford and Wrekin or Shropshire?

The majority of the Community Pharmacy sites were said to be across Shropshire.

Could more be done to bring similar services to more parts of Telford and Wrekin?

Members were informed that there had been some barriers for implementing the system in Telford and Wrekin. The first was due to a lack of engagement from existing pharmacists in the Borough and the other was that many of the current pharmacists did not meet the minimum threshold.

Could there be any schemes implemented that would support local pharmacists to express interest?

The implementation of schemes could be considered, Members were informed that this would be part of the national programme. It was discussed that the programmes presented to Members were currently in a pilot stage of testing before being rolled out more widely.

What could be done to support local pharmacies financially?

There were a number of support systems available to pharmacies and pharmacists. The current projects were in a trial stage but as they develop there would be further incentives and support offered to local pharmacists.

Had acute service providers used the service and referred patients to it?

There were figures being worked on by the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust (SaTH) on the number of referrals, however, Members were informed that this had not currently been extended to Urgent and Emergency Care and that referrals were more from community providers, GPs and the 111 service.

Were there referrals from the ambulance services?

At the time of the meeting there were no direct routes of referral from the  ...  view the full minutes text for item HAC-21

To review the updated Work Programme for the Health Scrutiny Committee.

The Democracy Officer (Scrutiny) provided a summary of the Work Programme and there were no substantial changes from the previous update and any future updates would be communicated to the Committee.

The Chair informed Members that the next scheduled meeting of the Committee was due to take place on 12 December 2023.