The Local Pharmaceutical Committee - Establishment and Authority
The LPC (Local Pharmaceutical Committee) is the statutory
body-set up under Section 44 of the NHS Act 1977-which represents persons
providing pharmaceutical services within one or more Primary Care Trusts
(PCTs). This means that the LPC is autonomous and is recognised in, and bound
by, the provisions of the NHS Act and the regulations. The LPC has a statutory
right to be consulted by the PCT on certain
Contractual matters and it is often more generally consulted by
the PCT on a range of issues relating to NHS community pharmacy.
The constitution specifically
reserves places for independent contractors, those who work for Co-operative
Societies and employee pharmacists. The constitution thus requires the LPC to
represent all contractors equally.
The LPC is therefore the only body which represents all pharmacy
contractors in Kensington Chelsea and Westminster. By
talking to us, you talk to all!
What is the LPC?
The Local Pharmaceutical Committee (LPC) is elected
democratically by local pharmacists every four years to represent the NHS
interests of the 38 pharmacies contracted to Kensington & Chelsea
Primary Care Trust and the 99 pharmacies contracted to Westminster
Primary Care Trust. Click here to see a list of
current committee members.
We are funded by statutory levies raised on contractors. The
Levy is also used to fund the services of the Pharmaceutical Services
Negotiating Committee (PSNC).
We are here to accurately reflect and put forward the
professional views and aspirations of all contractors providing NHS
pharmaceutical services to the residential and working population in Kensington,
Chelsea & Westminster. We are also here to help and advise
pharmacy contractors in all NHS matters and to seek ways to improve both the
current pharmaceutical services, and to explore and implement new services for
the benefit of the population by negotiating with the two Primary Care Trusts.
The LPC negotiates locally for additional pharmaceutical
services such as:
· Advice to care homes
· Substance misuse services with supervised consumption of
medicines
· Needle and syringe exchange services
· Minor ailments treatment through pharmacies
· Smoking cessation services
· The provision of monitored dosage systems for compliance
support
· Collection and safe disposal of waste medicines
We are hoping to introduce further services when local
policy and funding allow such as:
· Palliative Care
· Out of Hours services
· Treatment of further minor illnesses under Patient Group
Directions
· Obesity management and promotion of healthy lifestyle services
· Supply of free Emergency Hormonal Contraception and Chlamydia
screening
· INR testing, Diagnostic monitoring for Diabetes, CHD etc
· Flu vaccination service
. Calling all would-be Observers
We have been fortunate to have had observers present during our
meetings over the past two years and we have listened to their comments.
Interestingly their views echo each other in that this LPC is very involved and
there are many issues to grasp and understand. In fact with the implementation
and embedding of the new pharmacy contract and the need to develop and
negotiate further local Enhanced services, the committee can only look forward
to having an ever increasing workload in the future!
While the importance of the LPC and its roles will increase, the
responsibilities shouldered by the committee should not be under-estimated
because along with the increasing pressures comes more work and less time. So
it is essential we have the most effective committee possible and observers to
have an opportunity to learn more about their LPC and hopefully gain a valuable
insight to want to join the rest of us around the table. For those interested
in attending please contact me at the office.
LPC committee meetings are usually held on a Monday evening
7.30pm until 10.00pm in Central London. They are held monthly with no meetings
in August or December. The next scheduled meetings for 2005 are on:
· 19th September 2005
· 17th October 2005
· 21st November 2005
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