Consultation on the Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment 2018.
What is a Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment (PNA)?
Newham Health and Wellbeing Board is hosted by the London Borough of Newham. The government requires all Health and Wellbeing Boards to assess pharmaceutical services in their area at least every three years. This document is called the Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment. We are consulting on this document and would like to hear your views on pharmaceutical services in Newham. The assessment needs to be completed by the end of March 2018. We have produced a draft assessment from our initial findings. We would welcome your views and these will be used to inform the final assessment.
What are pharmaceutical services?
Pharmaceutical services are one of the many services currently provided under the NHS by community pharmacies and include:
- dispensing of medicines and appliances on prescription
- sale of medicines to the public
- providing advice to the public on medicines, coping with ill health or general health and well being
- receiving waste medicines for safe destruction
Some pharmaceutical services may be provided by dispensing GP practices or dispensing appliance contractors. There are no dispensing GP practices in Newham.
Who are we consulting and why?
We are required to consult with residents who live in the borough, or community group within the borough, who have an interest in the provision of pharmaceutical services. It is assumed that everyone living in Newham may require services provided by community pharmacies and appliance contractors. We are therefore consulting with the entire resident population of Newham and welcome the views from anyone living in Newham or anyone providing pharmaceutical services in Newham.
About Newham
Newham has a population of 340,700 and is projected to rise by around 8% between 2015 and 2020. Newham Council plans to develop 17,562 homes during the period 2017–2022 which will help support the growing population and demand for housing.
Newham is an ethnically diverse borough which is young, with around 74% of the population coming from black, Asian or minority ethnic communities (BAME).
Newham is ranked as being the 21st most deprived borough in England in 2015. Deprivation is measured using the following seven indicators: income, employment, health deprivation and disability, education, skills and training, barriers to housing and services, crime and living environment. The higher levels of deprivation are associated with poorer lifestyle and health behaviours resulting in ill-health at a younger age.
Life expectancy at birth for both men and women in Newham is slightly lower than the England average at 79.2 years for males and 83.1 years for females.
Community pharmacies in Newham
There are 20.4 community pharmacies per 100,000 population in Newham which has decreased slightly from 20.8 in 2013–14. Newham is well-served with community pharmacies, although the rate of provision is currently less than the London and England averages.
The majority of community pharmacies in Newham are open weekday evenings (84%) and Saturdays (86%). A number are also open on Sundays (23%), mainly in shopping areas.
There is also a much higher proportion of independently owned pharmacies at 85% compared to the national average of 38%.
All residents in Newham have an average travel time to a community pharmacy of not more than ten minutes, with 100% living within up to a 20-minute walk to a community pharmacy.
Feedback on pharmaceutical services
Views of pharmacy service users were gained from a survey circulated for comments from the general public in summer 2017.
From the 360 responses received from the public questionnaire:
- 73% have a regular or preferred pharmacy that they visit.
- 63% visit their pharmacy once a month or more.
- 45% rated as important that the pharmacy is close to their GP surgery; 78% that the pharmacy is close to their home; 13% that the pharmacy is close to where they work and 48% that the pharmacy has friendly staff.
- 92% had no difficulties travelling to their pharmacy.
- Of those who expressed a difficulty in travelling to their pharmacy; 36% had parking difficulties and 33% had problems with the location
- 80% report having a journey time of no more than 15 minutes.
- When asked which additional services they would like to see provided by the local pharmacy, 83% indicated Minor Ailments Scheme; 89% emergency supply of prescription medicines; 87% flu vaccination; 76% Stop Smoking Service and 86% a home delivery and prescription collection service.
- When asked what time of day they prefer to visit the pharmacy, the largest number of respondents, 39%, indicated that it varies; only 7% prefer to visit between 6pm and 8pm and 4% after 8pm.
- Only 13% (43) respondents indicated that they have used an internet pharmacy.
From the initial findings it appears that Newham is well-served with community pharmacies, with the rate of provision only slightly lower to both the London and national average. There is excellent access to a range of services provided by community pharmacies and appliance contractors across the borough.
As a result, we do not believe there are any gaps in provision of necessary pharmaceutical services in Newham.
But we would like to know your views as a resident of Newham.
Please give us your views
We are seeking the public’s views on the draft Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment. The consultation runs between 27th November 2017 and 28th January 2018. Your comments will inform the final Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment which will be produced by 1st April 2018.
If you require a printed copy, please contact Shamoly Aaron on:
Tel no: 020 3373 4739
Email: Shamoly.Aaron@newham.gov.uk
The final copy will be available on the London Borough of Newham website.
Kind regards
Newham Council PNA Steering Group