3. Will the Minister make a statement on the availability of common ailment schemes in pharmacies in South Wales Central? OAQ(5)0078(HWS)

I thank the Member for the question. The initial pilot for the common ailment scheme, labelled Choose Pharmacy, which is also the name of the IT platform that helps to deliver it, included a number of pharmacies in Cwm Taf within South Wales Central. There are now 19 pharmacies in Cwm Taf who are already running the common ailment scheme, with a further 19 expected to come on-stream and have the IT platform enabled. Cardiff and Vale expects to enable more pharmacies to come on board to deliver the ailment scheme within the next financial year.

Minister, I’m encouraged about Cwm Taf, but, as you know, 20 of the most common illnesses can be treated in pharmacies very well, and this relieves pressure on GPs. There is an advertising scheme—I think probably run by NHS England, but it still has application here in Wales—encouraging people to seek early advice, including visiting their pharmacies. Now, as I understand, there is there no common ailment scheme yet in Cardiff. I think this is a really good model, and it’s one that really should be used in urban areas, where access to pharmacies is usually very easy.

I agree. That’s why this Government is committed to working with the health boards to ensure that at least half of pharmacies in Wales do deliver the common ailments scheme. We’ll then have broader coverage. Cardiff and Vale is not currently delivering the scheme, but it will be, over the next financial year, rolled out within the area. And I recognise exactly the point you make. It’s what was in our manifesto and it’s in our programme for government to make sure that we do deliver more services through community pharmacies, to free up GPs’ workloads and GPs’ time. We estimate that up to 18 per cent of GPs’ workloads and 8 per cent of emergency department consultations are for relatively minor ailments. I’m sure you’ll recall that, when we launched the scheme, I attended a pharmacy, a Sheppards pharmacy, and I managed to have conjunctivitis, coincidentally, at the time. Again, a common ailment that some people do go to their GP for when they don’t need to; it’s perfectly treatable within a community pharmacy setting. What’s been important, though, has been the sharing of a version of the GP record to allow the scheme to go ahead. There’s much more potential than just common ailments in that sharing of the record, and I’m genuinely excited and encouraged about where we are with community pharmacies in Wales and what more we can do within the health service.

As the scheme is entirely aligned with prudent healthcare, I wonder why it’s taking so long to implement. Where is the resistance coming from, and what are the ways in which the Welsh Government can get over them?

Well, we actually ran a pilot on this before deciding on the roll-out, and I announced the roll-out in March last year. That actually came with an investment of £0.75 million to enable the IT platforms to go up. There are practical things to do to make sure the GP record can be shared. We’ve got sign-off and buy-in from partners, in particular our GP partners, to make sure that the record can be shared, because we want to make sure that the care that is provided within pharmacies is actually shared with the record, so people understand the treatment that is taking place. And I think that is the most transformational part of the scheme that we’re implementing. There should be more that we can do in the safe sharing of that record, with a proper login and with proper audit trails as well. So, I expect that we’ll make real progress over the next year and more. We’ve said that we want at least half of pharmacies to be able to deliver this scheme within the next few years; we actually think that we may be able to go further than that. There are health boards showing real ambition in making sure that community pharmacies are delivering more and more on health, because it is a convenient way to receive healthcare for the individual, but also for the health service a more efficient way of delivering many forms of the different care we’ve talked about.

Indeed, one of those health boards that has great enthusiasm for this is Cwm Taf. In fact, David’s question puts me in mind of my visit last week to Sheppards pharmacy in Llanharry where I was hugely impressed with the way that community pharmacies are now embracing these new opportunities with the support of Welsh Government to deal with common and minor ailments and, as the Cabinet Secretary has said, reducing the pressure on GPs and A&Es too. There was a real welcome on my visit for the restatement by the Welsh Government of its commitment to the community pharmacy sector with a £20 million investment to support and enhance pharmacy services in Wales. So, whilst I understand that the details of the funding announcement are currently being negotiated between Welsh Government and Community Pharmacy Wales, would he agree with me that there is a quiet confidence within the sector that, in contrast with England, where the funding is being cut over the next two spending cycles in fact—being cut—here in Wales we could see a significant expansion of the number of services you can obtain in a local pharmacy and not least, as the Cabinet Secretary alluded to, with the new Choose Pharmacy IT programme being rolled out by the Welsh Government, this might be the key to unlocking that sharing of data that will allow more people to be treated for common and minor ailments at their local trusted community pharmacy and less workload on GPs and even on A&Es?

I quite agree, that is a direction of travel for this Government and there is a palpable difference in attitude between this Government and the UK Government to the community pharmacy sector. And it’s recognised and reflected back regularly from community pharmacy itself. In England, there’ll be a 4 per cent cut within this year for community pharmacy, going up to 7 per cent the year after. The millions of pounds that are coming out of the sector in England are not taking place here. We’re maintaining our funding for the community pharmacy sector and they’ve responded positively to the challenge that I set out about having a more quality-based system of payments. So, we’re not simply going to provide payment on the basis of volume and dispensing volumes, it will really be about a quality based element too. That is about them providing greater value and greater services to individuals. You’re right to point out that community pharmacies are embedded, they’re local, they’re available and they’re trusted by people. We need to take advantage of the fact that is the position of the highly skilled professionals working in those settings. So, I’m generally enthusiastic and positive about their role now and we expect to develop even more with them in the future as well.