Pharmacy, Medicines, and Specialised Commissioning in the new NHS

What changes can we expect to pharmacy, medicines management, and specialised commissioning in the new NHS? What will the introduction of medicines registers, as outlined in the Government’s Health and Care White Paper proposals, mean for pharmacy?

Professor Inderjit Singh (Chief Pharmacist at University Hospitals Birmingham) joined Tom Clarke (Director, Mtech Access) on Friday 26^th March at 2.00 pm to explore all this and more in our live webinar.

In our March #WhispersWordsofWisdom webinar, Tom Clarke was joined by Professor Inderjit Singh to explore how pharmacy and specialised commissioning are evolving in the new NHS.

The UK Government’s Health and Care White Paper was published on 11^th February. The document sets out a major proposed reorganisation of the NHS in England that is largely in line with recent NHS policies around integration, consolidation, and control. Medicines were mentioned sparingly and only in the context of the new medicines registers. However, other changes will have a significant impact on pharmacy.

Professor Singh is one of the leading pharmacists in today’s NHS and is currently Chief Pharmacist at University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust. He has responsibility for the provision of the pharmacy service within the Trust and for ensuring appropriate governance of medicines. He provides strategic oversight into commercial pharmacy matters and strategic support to Heath Trust Europe, a collaborative procurement hub based in Birmingham.

We are excited to welcome Professor Singh to the Whispers’ Words of Wisdom webinar series.

This webinar forms part of our monthly Whispers’ Words of Wisdom series, in which we have in‑depth, comprehensive conversations with senior colleagues from the NHS. We explore what their immediate priorities are, what they see as the greatest challenges currently faced by the NHS, and how the NHS might respond to these challenges.

Our previous webinars are now available on demand:

• February 2021: ‘The White Paper and integrated care in the NHS: What it really means in practice for clinicians, patients and us’ with guest speaker Dr John Ribchester (GP and Clinical Director at Whitstable Primary Care Network)
• January 2021: ‘Heads at heart of the NHS: How mental health is central to everything in the new NHS’ with guest speaker Brent Kilmurray (Chief Executive of Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust)
• December 2020: ‘Pharmacy and Medicines in the Integrated Care Systems (ICS) of the new NHS’ with guest speaker Laura Angus (Interim Lead Pharmacist, Humber Coast and Vale ICS)
• November 2020: ‘Is prevention better than the cure? How can the NHS and public health work closer to improve population health?’ with guest speaker Dr Peter Brambleby (Independent Public Health Consultant)
• October 2020: ‘Understanding the tipping point: when elective becomes selective in NHS surgery’ with guest speaker Simon Parsons (Divisional Director of Surgery at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust)
• September 2020: ‘Leading within an evolving, integrating system: Insights from an NHS leader’ with guest speaker: Deborah Lee (CEO of Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Trust)
• August 2020: ‘ICS: Separating Fact from Myth: Insights from a System Leader’ with guest speaker: Dr Claire Fuller (Senior Responsible Officer at Surrey Heartlands Health and Care Partnership)
• July 2020: ‘The Evolving NHS: Lessons for Pharma and Medtech’ a discussion between Tom Clarke and David Thorne (Directors, Mtech Access)