Agenda item

3.1

The Board received a petition containing 82 signatures requesting better provision for Pharmacy services in Stocksbridge and Deepcar.

A representation on behalf of the petitioners was made by Kathryn Giles-Bowman who advised that in addition to the 82 online signatures she had also collected 100 signatures on a paper petition.

The petition stated:

“It's been an ongoing issue for some time that local pharmacy provision isn't adequate for our area affecting the most vulnerable in our society, lack of pharmacists to dispense, waiting times for dispensing prescriptions, restricted opening times and no weekend services. This isn't aimed at the staff of our current pharmacies they are working hard, but there just isn't enough of them.

The object of this petition is to encourage Sheffield Health and Well-being Service to relook at the current provision and repeat the Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment (PNA) so further pharmacy licenses can be granted in the area.

With a rising population and new homes coming to the area, this should ensure a safer better future for our community and its members.”

The petitioner added that as part of the Stocksbridge Town Fund there was a proposal for a new building which would result in the removal of one of the existing pharmacies if alternative premises were not provided.

The petition was referred to the Co-Chair of the Committee, Dr Zak McMurray to respond. He suggested that Ms Giles-Bowman should meet with Officers and himself to discuss specific details and that this would be arranged by the Team. It should also be borne in mind that there was a national shortage of pharmacies and existing pharmacies were also subject to competing pressures.

The Chair read the following response:

“The Health & Wellbeing Board are required to publish a Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment (PNA) every three years, with the current assessment for Sheffield having been published in 2022 and running to 2025.

The Assessment was conducted based on a thorough assessment of demographic and population changes since the previous assessment in 2019, and with expected future population change due to new development over the life of the Assessment also taken into account,  the view of officers responsible for this work is that there has been no significant change in the local demographic context that would justify a full review of the PNA, or production of a supplementary statement focused on Stocksbridge and Deepcar.

With regard to the commissioning and provision of services in response to the PNA, notifications of changes that result in additions to provision or changes of ownership are made through Primary Care Support England, while following the Health and Care Act 2022 and subsequent transfer of responsibilities to Integrated Care Boards, NHS South Yorkshire ICB are responsible for commissioning of community pharmaceutical services, and for notifying of changes that would have a detrimental impact on service delivery.

The NHS South Yorkshire ICB Primary Care Team have not been notified of any recent closures in the area.  However, the Team are aware that there have previously been issues with the delivery of services by two of the local pharmacies in particular. One of these (now called Allied Pharmacy Stocksbridge, located on Johnson Street) changed ownership in August this year and there appears to have been a resulting improvement in the delivery of services, as NHS South Yorkshire have not received any recent complaints from patients or local GP practices and have not been notified of any unplanned closures for this pharmacy since the change of ownership.

The Primary Care Team have also been in contact with the other pharmacy in Stocksbridge (Well Pharmacy) to discuss the previous issues and concerns. They have been advised by Well that the workforce issues have improved, due to the recruitment of permanent staff members and also through support provided by their regional management team. There also appears to have been an improvement in delivery of services, as again the Team have not received any recent complaints from patients or local GP Practices and have not been notified of any unplanned closures for this pharmacy in the last few months. The Primary Care Team do have ongoing regular meetings with the Well area management team to discuss any issues and so, if there are specific issues related to this pharmacy, these can be followed up through that route.

With regard to Deepcar, the opening hours of Deepcar pharmacy have not changed since the current PNA was completed. NHS South Yorkshire have not received any recent complaints from patients or local GP Practices, or any recent notifications of unplanned closures for this Pharmacy. 

Responsible officers would be happy to meet with the petitioners to discuss their concerns, and to understand whether there are specific services that are not currently being provided, or opening hours required by local patients that are not currently being delivered, and to take this into consideration.  If this would be welcome the Health & Wellbeing Board support team can make the necessary connections.”

3.2

Members requested confirmation of when the next PNA was due and noted the gap between what the petition stated and the response given, in particular regarding pharmacy provision at weekends.

Greg Fell (Director of Public Health, Sheffield City Council) advised that the previous PNA had been conducted in 2022 and the next one was due in 2025.  He stated that he agreed that there were issues with current community pharmacy provision and that a meeting with the petitioner would be appropriate.

Members also requested that the Board write to the Stocksbridge Town Deal Board to make sure that premises were made available for pharmacy provision in the new development, and also requested that the attention of the ICB be drawn to the risk to pharmacy provision caused by the development.