Agenda item

Lorna Quinn, Public Health Intelligence Specialist, to present the Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment

Lorna Quinn, Public Health Intelligence Specialist, together with Matthew Blomefield, Public Health Intelligence Analyst, presented the Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment for the period 2025-28 with the aid of the following powerpoint presentation:-

 

Process

-        Legislation required that Health and Wellbeing Boards produce an assessment of the need for pharmaceutical services.  The assessments (Pharmaceutical Needs Assessments (PNAs)) were due every 3 years

-        A steering group met annually (or as frequently as required) to provide supplementary updates and to refresh the full document each year

-        The previous PNA covered 2022-2025; this document covered 2025-28

-        The draft document was shared for 60 days consultation on 14^th July 2025

-        The PNA would be published September 2025 and would be reviewed as necessary following any changes in provision

 

Regulation Requirements

-        A map of current provision

-        A summary of local health need

-        Conclusions

·        If there was sufficient choice with regard to obtaining pharmaceutical services in Rotherham

·        Pharmaceutical services that were necessary to meet the health needs of the population

v  All essential services

v  Advance Services (Pharmacy First; Hypertension case-finding, Flu Vaccination)

v  Locally commissioned services (needle exchange, supervised consumption and emergency hormonal contraception)

·        If there were identified future need for pharmaceutical services e.g. new housing developments

·        If there were any other NHS services that affected pharmaceutical service needs

 

Main Findings

-        Overall access to pharmaceutical services in Rotherham was good.  Most of the population lived within easy access of a pharmacy and good physical access was supplemented by increasing growth in national online service provision

-        As of January 2025, there were 65 pharmaceutical service providers for the area of Rotherham Health and Wellbeing Board.  This included:-

·        61 pharmacies

·        1 dispensing appliance contractor (DAC)

·        3 dispensing GP practices

-        A local population of 268,267 (mid-2022 – most recent estimate for local areas) indicates 22.7 pharmacies per population head in Rotherham

-        As there was no set definition for ‘need’, access, resident choice and current use of pharmacies had been reviewed

 

Access

-        In Rotherham 23% of the population did not have access to a car or van in their household, therefore, access had been reviewed to include walking time and walking distance alongside drive time:

·        83.4% of the population of Rotherham lived within a 15 minute walk of a Rotherham-based pharmaceutical service provider

·        93.2% of the 20% most deprived population lived within a 15 minute walk of a Rotherham-based pharmaceutical service provider

·        98.9% of the population lived within 15 minutes on public transport on a weekday morning

·        100% of Rotherham-based residents lived within a 10 minute drive of a Rotherham-based pharmaceutical services provider during rush hour

·        Including cross-border pharmacies had a marginal impact on the proportion of Rotherham residents within 15 minutes walk or 1.6 km (1 mile) of a pharmaceutical services provider

 

Resident Choice

-        In a resident survey conducted with Healthwatch Rotherham, residents fed back that access and convenience were the biggest influencers of pharmacy choice

-        The most common method of access was driving although this was slightly less likely for participants living in the 2 most deprived deciles than those living in less deprived areas

-        Participants living in the 2 most deprived deciles were as likely to rely on delivery from a pharmacy as those in less deprived areas

-        Participants living in the 2 most deprived deciles were slightly more likely to cycle or take public transport to a pharmacy than those in less deprived areas

-        Residents also commented on their preferred days and times which had been incorporated into the recommendations

Pharmacy Use

-        Essential services were offered by all pharmacy contractors but not all services register to provide advanced or locally commissioned services

-        For Essential and Advanced Services, the number of pharmacies providing each service was calculated based on the number of pharmacies that had provided that service once or more in 2024

-        Locally Commissioned Services data was provided by contractors and the Strategic Commissioning Team in Adult Care, Housing and Public Health at RMBC

-        Service provision of these had been detailed within the document including at Ward level and findings considered in the document

 

Conclusions – Necessary Services

-        Based on the information available at the time of developing this Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment, no current gaps in the provision of essential services within or outside normal working hours had been identified

-        However, if one of the 100-hour pharmacies reduced their hours or there was a loss of weekend or evening hours, there would be a need

 

Conclusions – Advanced Services

-        This Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment had detailed the distribution of these within Rotherham and Wards.  Based on the data available the Health and Wellbeing Board was satisfied that there was sufficient capacity to meet the demand for these advanced services

-        However, if one of the 100-hour pharmacies reduced their hours or there was a loss of weekend or evening hours, there would be a need

 

Conclusions – Future Need

-        The document had reviewed population growth in line with forecasts and housing developments that would deliver new homes within the timeframe of the document

-        There were no new housing developments of significant size during the lifetime of the document and the population projections were not predicted to increase to sufficient size to create unmet pharmaceutical need providing services remained as they were at the time of writing

 

Conclusions – Other Services

-        The document notes the number of pharmacies that had signed up to provide and were providing the advanced and enhanced services listed below:-

·        Lateral Flow Device Tests Supply Service

·        New Medicine Service

·        Emergency Hormonal Contraception

·        Needle and Syringe Provision Needle Exchange

·        Palliative Care

·        Over the counter medication Labelling Scheme

-        It was satisfied that the current demand could and would be met by the existing providers

 

Next Steps

-        Publication of the 2025-28 PNHA

-        The Steering Group continue to meet annually

-        Further analysis in the Public Health Team to look at access to provision by public transport, walking and car use.  This will be hosted on the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment

 

Discussion ensued with the following issues raised/clarified:-

 

-        It was not expected that there would be sufficient home owners moving onto the Waverley estate during the lifetime of this PNA for enhanced provision and similarly at Bassingthorpe Farm.  However, this would be monitored by the Steering Group

-        In such areas as Waverley, that were very near to a bordering local authority, consideration was given to Rotherham’s provision plus a one mile buffer

-        Any changes in pharmacy provision would be monitored including any closures and out of hours

-        More analysis would be undertaken on the number of members of public who did not have access to a car

-        The PNA looked specifically at the time it took to get to a pharmacy or the distance to a pharmacy; it did not take into consideration whether there was a “safe” walking route.  The data was quite limited in terms of safety but it was something that could be picked up in the analysis as part of the wider consultation on public transport and access to transport

-        The timing of public transport was also not included but could be fed into the wider analysis

 

Resolved:-  That the findings of the 2025-2028 Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment be noted.