North Tyneside Health and Wellbeing Board is required by law to publish a Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment (PNA). When writing or updating the PNA they must consult with local Healthwatch on pharmacy needs in the borough. We asked local people about their experience of using local pharmacy services so that we could put your voices at the centre of discussions on local pharmacy need.
How you were involved in gathering views for the draft PNA
We gathered people’s experiences through an online and printed survey from June to August 2017. We also used data from NHS choices and feedback from engagement and our online Healthwatch feedback centre.
We found that people were largely happy with the service that their pharmacy provided and spoke of positive experiences of quality customer service and speed of service, however these were also areas that people felt could be improved. We identified which services within pharmacies people had used, were aware of or awareness was low. We fed back what we found to the Health and Wellbeing Board.
We have written a report of our findings which has been presented to the steering group responsible for the revision of the PNA. We did not make any formal recommendations but used our findings to respond formally to the draft PNA when it was released in October 2017.
We sent our report to the Health and Wellbeing Board, Overview and Scrutiny Committee, Local Pharmaceutical Committee, Clinical Commissioning Group, NHS England, Healthwatch England, Community Health Care Forum and service commissioners.
What is the Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment?
The Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment (PNA) describes the current pharmacy services in the borough. It should identify any gaps and unmet needs and make recommendations on future development. The Health and Wellbeing Board is required to consult with stakeholders when writing the PNA. This should include local residents as well as interested organisations.
Download our report and a presentation of our findings below.
| Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment briefing paper, 2017 | Download File (pdf 623.40 KB) |
| PNA summary presentation, 2017 | Download File (pdf 297.18 KB) |
| Healthwatch response to PNA, Jan 2018 | Download File (pdf 188.74 KB) |