BUCKINGHAMSHIRE

LOCAL PHARMACEUTICAL COMMITTEE

“Community Pharmacy – the public’s first choice for health care in the community”

Members Meeting

10.00am14January 2015

Minutes

Members only session

The Holiday Inn, M40 Junction 4, Handy Cross,
High Wycombe, HP11 1TL

Present:Pankaj Shah, Chair (PS)Gary Elton, Treasurer (GE)

Julie Horslen (JH)Carol Durrant (CD)

Hemali Jagjivan (HJ) Kalpesh Patel (KP)

In Attendance:Wendy Illsley, Chief Officer (WI), Mohammed Comran, Observer, SapnaHassasing, Observer

1 / Apologies for absence:Julie Pereira, Rak Patel, Gary Warner, PSNC Regional Representative
2 / Minutes of LPC meeting held on 12thNovember 2014
The minutes of the meeting were agreed to be accurate.
3 / Matters arising and actions from previous minutes
All actions from the previous meeting have been completed. The Chief Officers Report was discussed and noted.
4 / Governance
  • Declarations of Interest
None were declared
  • Committee Vacancy
Mohammed Comran and SapnaHassasing have expressed an interest in the vacant independent member position and have been invited to attend the meeting to see the work of the committee in action. Mohammed and Sapna were welcomed to the meeting as observers. The LPC constitution then allows the committee to co-opt one member.
  • Meeting Dates 2015
Circulated with these minutes.
5 / Finance Report
There is currently a balance of £57k in the current account and no other budgetary concerns.
PS asked the committee if a levy reduction or holiday should be considered. It was agreed to make no changes at the present time but to review again in April. A levy reduction would be preferable to a “holiday” forconsistency and clarity for contractors.
The new constitution requires the LPC to publish a budget and send a copy to the Area Team by March 2015. KP expressed concern that the Area team would be able to influence LPC activity. WI to raise with PSNC. GE has costed out the proposals in the LPC workplan which can be used as a basis for this budget.
GE attended a meeting of Thames Valley LPC Treasurers in relation to the merger discussions and confirmed that the potential finances of the merged organisations had been reviewed. Only a very small saving in costs was identified for a Berks Oxon merger, with 14K if Bucks was joined. Concern was raised over potential TUPE costs which would be shared between participating LPCs.
GE and CD attended the PSNC Finance Seminar and found it useful WI is asked to check that public liability insurance is covered by the block insurance policy. / WI
WI
6 / Contract Applications
One application for Buckinghamshire has been received. This is a distance selling exempt application on behalf of a company owned by Rothschild Surgery. GE has made a response on behalf of the LPC. WI has taken advice from Steve Lutener over notification of a pharmacy that had consent to open but had not yet opened. Steve’s advice was that the proposed pharmacy appeared to be a notifiable party under NHS Regulations. The pharmacy did in fact open on 11th December and has asked the LPC to make representations on its behalf. WI will write to TVPCA. Windmill pharmacy has also sought advice from the CO in relation to apparent direction of prescriptions by another GP surgery. / WI
7 / LPC Self Assessment including sign off for Strategy and Business Plan
The Committee approved the revised LPC strategy and WI will place on the LPC website. WI had revised the workplan in the context of recent local developments around services and in the light of the LPC Self Evaluation. The committee then worked through each section of the workplan and made comments. The revised workplan was then agreed.
It was agreed that as Governance is a standing item on all LPC minutes the occasions when it would be necessary to have a governance sub-committee were few but if this was required then it would consist of three committee members, who should not have any conflict of interest in the matter under discussion. This will normally be the Chief Officer, Chair and Vice Chair unless the above applies.
It was suggested that a questionnaire is placed on the website to capture contactor views on the work of the LPC, also Google Analytics to be used to track visitors to the website. / WI
8 / LPC Provider Companies
The PSNC Guide to LPCs on setting up provider companies was discussed. The committee recognised that the new LPC constitution would allow them to set up such a vehicle but that the resources and commitment needed were considerable. It is not the right time to set up such a company but the committee will keep the matter under review.
9 / Statistical data/NMS/MUR
MURS
Numbers were somewhat erratic in August and September. Numbers of MURs carried out in August was 1855, dropping by over 800 from July’s figure of 2678, rising to 2255 in September. The number of claims per pharmacy has also dropped significantly, falling below the national average for the first time in a year.
On detailed analysis, when internet pharmacies and non standard pharmacies (The National Epilepsy Centre and Securicare Medical) are removed there are 91 pharmacies likely to submit a claim. Only three of these pharmacies have never claimed, as one pharmacy has recently changed ownership and has begun carrying out MURs. However numbers submitted from some pharmacies remain disappointingly low.
NMS
Statistics show item dispensed continue to increase.
51 out of 91 pharmacies (adjusted) claimed in September. The highest ever number was 60 in May 2013. Six pharmacies have never made an NMS claim to date. 94% of Bucks pharmacies have claimed at some time which is higher than the national average per LPC, which is 87%.
It may be possible to steer non-participating pharmacies towards the HELP Project MUR events as a way to find out why this small number of pharmacies remain disengaged.
10 / NHS 111 development proposals
WI has been approached by Aylesbury Vale CCG and the Commissioning Support Unit about a joint proposal to NHS 111 for two proposals to increase the use of community pharmacy. The proposals had to be submitted at very short n notice and are therefore only brief outlines:
1.NHS 111 actually informing the caller and sending a text to a specific community pharmacy with detail of the nature of the call so that the caller has a greater chance of using the community pharmacist appropriately. This would then be auditable.
2.Developing a system of direct transfer of prescription requests to pharmacies (acute and repeat) without involving input by the OOH service. Although this may be more difficult to establish it would be easier for the caller and free up slots at the OOH service.
WI will attend a meeting in London on Thursday 15th January after which there should be more clarity.
The meeting closed with Lunch.
Date of Next Meeting
10.00 am 11thMarch 2015 Holiday Inn High Wycombe

Wendy Illsley Chief OfficerPage1