Last week was full of excitement for me – I became Chair of the CCA’s LPC Support Group and also attended PSNC’s National Meeting of Local Pharmaceutical Committees (LPCs). It was great to see so many fellow representatives at the PSNC’s LPC meeting and have the opportunity to catch up with some of them. PSNC national meetings always provide a great opportunity to network with other LPC representatives and for all to share knowledge and views. I would thoroughly recommend attending such events in the future if you can.
We were lucky enough to have a presentation from Ed Waller from NHS England who shared his thoughts on how community pharmacy can support the NHS Long Term Plan. There’s still a lot of uncertainty for us, mainly because the community pharmacy contractual framework negotiations are still to begin, but it’s clear from Ed that community pharmacy has an important role to play in prevention and urgent care.
What’s also evident is that as a sector we must engage with Primary Care Networks (PCNs) as they continue to form and develop. We spent some time during the day sharing thoughts across LPCs on what’s happening locally and how community pharmacy and the LPCs are beginning to build meaningful relationships within PCNs and get a seat at the table.
LPCs have such an important role to play in community pharmacy’s engagement with PCNs and we should all be thinking about how we can support contractors through our respective LPCs. Not an easy task but I’m sure that, by sharing best practice and success stories across our CCA LPC rep community, we can play an important role in this. Please do get in touch if you have a success story you’d like to share.
At the CCA’s LPC Support Group meeting we too were thinking about PCNs and how we can support you all to actively engage in LPC activity related to this. PCNs will no doubt be a focus for our work for the rest of the year and we are looking to hear from our reps to understand the different approaches so that we can share best practice and experiences. Also, look out for support from PSNC on their website.
We also discussed additional personal development support we can provide for our LPC reps. I have been an LPC rep for four years now, so I’m a novice compared to some of you. I’m sure we all acknowledge there’s always room for improvement, no matter how many years you have served.
Watch out for some exciting new tools such as our LPC rep mentor scheme which is about to be piloted, further vlogs from Malcolm Harrison, Chief Executive of the CCA, and a skills assessment which you may choose to support your performance review and personal development plan agreed with your line manager.
As an LPC rep in 2019 we need to be thinking of ourselves as local leaders and embrace the important and significant role we have in supporting all contractors as we enter a period of unprecedented change in the sector. I’m confident that we can all make a difference. The CCA will provide us with tools and materials to help us in our roles and the Support Group and I are always here to offer advice and words of wisdom as and when you need it.
Best wishes to all and do get in touch if we can be of any help.
Vicki Roberts
Chair, CCA LPC Support Group
