FSRH Consultation Response: FSRH supports NICE Quality Standards for Community Pharmacies

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has launched a consultation on their draft quality standards for the promotion of health and wellbeing in community pharmacies. In our response, we propose that SRH service provision must be included in this quality standard in order to reduce health inequalities and to achieve a fully integrated healthcare service:

Integrated services: We support the integration of community pharmacies into existing healthcare services. Community pharmacies can promote sexual and reproductive healthcare and wellbeing, but these services are currently not consistently provided across the country. The integration of community pharmacies into existing services provides the opportunity to develop a consistent approach to the provision of sexual and reproductive healthcare within the community pharmacy setting, and to alleviate the pressures on existing healthcare services.

Health inequalities: We agree that community pharmacies can play an integral role in reducing health inequalities, particularly in areas of deprivation. Community pharmacies offer a local, confidential, accessible setting for individuals seeking advice. These factors are essential for individuals seeking advice and care for services such as contraception. For some individuals, particularly in deprived areas, community pharmacies are their only contact with healthcare professionals. It is imperative that these individuals can access consistent, high quality care at their community pharmacy.

The expected publication date of the quality standards is June 2nd, 2020. More information can be found here.