1. Background

The community pharmacy primary care network (PCN) engagement lead role (or service (referred to as ‘role’ below)) has been established to support the regional implementation of the pharmacy Primary Care Access Recovery Plan (PCARP) requirements, including implementing the Pharmacy First Service and expanding the Blood Pressure Checks Service and Pharmacy Contraception Service.

The role will help develop channels of engagement between community pharmacy and PCNs and build partnership that supports integrated clinical pathways for patients.

The community pharmacy PCN engagement lead role is being funded by NHS England for this financial year (from 1 April 2024 until 31 March 2025).

Integrated care boards (ICBs) will manage delivery on a local level and the funding is provided per PCN.

The expectation is that the role will function as a point of contact for local community pharmacies and for general practices in the PCN.

For example, this could be by providing 4 hourly sessions every few weeks to support the implementation of PCARP and then ongoing engagement as required (expected to be a minimum of 8 hours total per quarter).

By building local relationships between community pharmacy and general practice, the role will help to ensure high quality and appropriate referrals from general practice to community pharmacy and to help troubleshoot any issues about read-write patient records management. The role holder should also attend PCN boards and other meetings, as appropriate.

The funding is based on the number of PCNs within the ICB. These are taken from official Organisational Data Service (ODS) data from December 2023.

It is expected that the ICB pharmacy commissioning teams and community pharmacy clinical leads (CPCLs) will coordinate with their local pharmaceutical committees (LPCs) to identify the community PCN engagement lead roles. This could be 1 per PCN or 1 role for a number of PCNs. This will be determined locally, based on the needs of the locality.

The ICB will regularly report to NHS England through its regional senior pharmacy integration lead. This will provide assurance that the PCN engagement leads are in place and fulfilling their duties according to the framework.

2. Framework for community pharmacy PCN engagement lead role

This framework sets out the key responsibilities of the community pharmacy PCN engagement lead role.

ICBs will be responsible for making local arrangements for the roles and for ensuring the delivery of the responsibilities set out in this national framework.

Key suggested responsibilities:

• Provide support and co-ordination for the community pharmacies in their PCNs to help them collaboratively develop and implement an approach to engagement with the PCNs. It is expected that this role will deliver a minimum of 8 hours per quarter.
• Work across PCNs and integrated neighbourhood teams to best implement and integrate community pharmacy services as part of the pharmacy PCARP delivery plan for the ICB, including aligning clinical pathways.
• Agree local arrangements with general practice for delivering the Pharmacy First Service, including localising a standard operating procedure (SOP) and a protocol for referral and escalation into the service.
• Contribute to PCN clinical meetings and other key PCN meetings to represent community pharmacy, as appropriate. Note, the community pharmacy PCN engagement leads are not required to be registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council. If a local pharmacist or pharmacy technician is needed to join a clinical meeting this might be facilitated through this arrangement and by liaison with the LPC and CPCL in their ICB.
• Work closely with the key members of staff in their PCNs to discuss, understand and be able to describe how community pharmacy can support their PCNs to achieve local targets aligned to national NHS priorities.
• Develop relationships and work closely with their PCN clinical directors, PCN pharmacy teams, other community pharmacy PCN engagement leads in neighbouring areas, clinical leaders of other primary care providers, regional community pharmacy clinical leads, health and social care providers, local commissioners and the LPCs.

3. Funding

Funding will be available to ICBs so that the roles can be established as detailed above.

See annex for allocation per ICB.

4. Assurance

ICBs will be expected to report in September 2024 and in March 2025 on how many PCN engagement leads are in place and give an overview of their activity and impact.

NHS England regional senior pharmacy integration leads will monitor uptake and collate reporting nationally to support oversight and evaluation of their success.

Annex: List of ICBs, number of PCNs (December 2023 ODS list) and allocation amount

Publication reference: PRN01332