The PCN DES FOR 2024/25 – ASSUMING THERE IS ONE
April 2024 has been a key month for Primary Care. It’s been coming for five years, but it still surprises people, as is always the case with concepts like a five-year plan. We have had lots of enquiries for our bespoke pharmacist-led clinical service, but it’s becoming more common for PCNs to only commit to support until the end of March 2024 as no one is sure what is happening beyond that point.
Ben Gowland’s take on PCN DES 2024/25
Ben Gowland from Ockham in his blog post “Tackling the End of PCN DES Uncertainty” looks toward the future.
As always, Ben talks some real sense about the future of primary care. I echo his view that the best functioning PCNs have a clear vision of what they want to achieve for their member practices and, more importantly, their patients.
Further integration into Neighbourhood teams seems inevitable and eminently sensible as we look to deliver the best quality health and social care for their patients.
Medacy is planning for the PCN DES 2024/25
Medacy is planning for a similar future and is keen to talk to stakeholders about how to use their pharmacy professionals best to deliver real, sustainable change that benefits ICSs, PCNs, GP practices, and their patients.
If I’m honest, I think the PCN DES for 2022/23 and its prescriptive nature (pardon the pun!) held pharmacists and technicians back. This year, there is more flexibility but I think we are just scratching the surface of the potential for pharmacists to transform primary care. In an average GP practice (if such a thing exists) 43% of the patient list will be on a repeat medication of some sort. That means that in a 10,000-patient practice, 4300 will benefit from an intervention from the pharmacy team.
I don’t think that patients, practices, PCNs or the wider NHS have fully benefited from the unique skill set that Clinical Pharmacists and Pharmacy Technicians bring. Maybe the likely one-year interim contract will give systems and places an opportunity to be innovative and benefit fully from their clinical pharmacists and pharmacy technicians. A less prescriptive approach should allow for pharmacy individuals and teams to flourish and share best practices across the country.
