Health Management and Policy Alert

A summary of discussions in National Voices’ roundtable on the future of community pharmacy on behalf of the National Pharmacy Association

National Voices -
On 12 October 2022, National Voices convened a group of its members and lived experience partners on behalf of the National Pharmacy Association to discuss the future role of community pharmacy within primary care and more widely. Topics discussed included the potential for community pharmacists to offer more services, continuity of care, digital approaches to service delivery, and the issue of trust.

• Briefing
• National Voices - publications

State of health visiting, UK survey report: a vital safety net under pressure

Institute of Health Visiting -
This report details the findings from a UK survey of frontline health visitors working with families across the United Kingdom. It finds health visitors reporting epidemic levels of poverty, with more parents struggling with the cost-of-living crisis that is forcing them to turn to food banks to feed their children. Alongside this, more parents are living with mental health problems, domestic abuse and adversity, that pose risks to the health and wellbeing of babies and young children. The report makes various policy recommendations including a shift towards prevention and early intervention, equity of access to support and integrated clinical care pathways.

• Report
• Institute of Health Visiting - news

Away from hospital and into the community: a research report into alternative options for young people’s mental health crisis care

Look Ahead -
According to this report, young people and expert mental health care staff say patients are unlikely to receive in-patient mental health care unless they “have attempted suicide multiple times”. It finds increasing demand for children and young people’s crisis mental health services amidst challenges with existing services. The report recommends alternative community crisis services, including supported housing away from hospital settings to reduce pressure on A&E and reduce costs by more than 50 per cent.

• Report
• Look Ahead - press release

Healthcare inequalities: access to NHS prescribing and exemption schemes in England

NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) - 

This report looks at health care inequalities in relation to NHS prescribing and exemption schemes in England. It considers uptake in deprived and other under-served communities, providing actionable insights with a focus on three clinical areas of prescribing - chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), hypertension, and severe mental illness (SMI).

• Report

Transforming lives, improving health outcomes: tackling the true cost of variation in uptake of innovative medicines

NHS Confederation - 

This report considers how to ensure patients are able to access and benefit from innovative medicines – wherever they live in the UK. The joint report with the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) makes thirteen specific recommendations (focusing on England, Wales and Northern Ireland) to support progress in tackling the unwarranted variation in the uptake of innovative medicines.

• Report
• More detail

Mental health and the cost-of-living crisis report: another pandemic in the making?

Mental Health Foundation (MHF) - 

This policy briefing paper provides an overview of the current and likely effects of the so-called ‘cost-of living crisis’ on mental health. It sets out MHF's evidence-based recommendations for governments across the UK to tackle the mental health impacts of the cost-of-living crisis. The paper emphasises that the priority must be to ensure suitable financial support schemes are available to all who need them to prevent people from experiencing poverty, financial stress and related mental health problems. The paper also stresses that the income support announced to date does not go far enough to meet the needs of low-income people who continue to go without essentials such as food and heating.

• Briefing paper
• Press release

Maternity surveys 2022

Care Quality Commission -
This survey aims to capture what people using maternity services in 2022 felt about the care they received while pregnant, during labour and delivery, and once at home in the weeks following the arrival of their baby. The survey of more than 20,900 women who gave birth in February 2022 shows fewer reporting positively about their experience of maternity care, with a decline in the number able to get help from staff when they needed it, compared to five years ago. However, many respondents were still positive about their interactions with staff.

• Survey results
• Care Quality Commission - press release

Annual report on ethnicity differences in organ donation and transplantation

NHS Blood and Transport -
This report outlines the need for more organ donors of Black and Asian heritage, in order to help the growing number of patients waiting for life-saving transplants. It shows that in 2021-22, people of Asian heritage represented 3 per cent of deceased donors but 15 per cent of deceased donor transplants and 18 per cent of the transplant waiting list; while those of Black heritage represented 2 per cent of deceased donors but 9 per cent of deceased donor transplants and 10 per cent of the waiting list, similar to figures from the previous year. It also finds that family consent or authorisation is lower for potential donors from ethnic minority backgrounds.

• Report
• NHS Blood and Transport - news

Tackling health inequalities: delivering accessible pharmaceutical care for everyone

Royal Pharmaceutical Society -
This position paper outlines how the cost of living crisis is adding to widening health inequalities and aims to help pharmacists and pharmacy teams to take action. It describes how services that are already being provided can help reduce health inequalities such as helping patients to get the best from their medicines, to improve their health and to live well. However, the focus is on how these services are provided so they are accessible to those that need them.

• Position paper
• Royal Pharmaceutical Society - news

An improvement framework to reduce community musculoskeletal waits while delivering best outcomes and experience

NHS England - 

Integrated high quality community musculoskeletal (MSK) services are integral to a productive high-performing healthcare system supporting the management of MSK conditions. This framework will support integrated care systems (ICSs) to reduce commissioned community MSK waiting times while delivering best outcomes and experience for patients. It includes defining principles, recommended actions across primary, community and secondary care and further resources.

• Framework
• More detail