Expert Panel: Evaluation of Government commitments made on pharmacy services in England

• Read about the role of the Expert Panel

Scope of the Expert Panel

The Expert Panel will evaluate nine Government commitments across five areas:

• Community pharmacy
• Integrated care (including patient safety)
• Hospital pharmacy
• Education, training and the pharmacy workforce
• Extended services

Six specialists have been appointed for this evaluation, bringing their subject specific expertise and experience. They will work alongside the core members of the Expert Panel to produce a report evaluating Government progress across nine of the Government’s own commitments across the four areas. A CQC-style rating from “inadequate” to “outstanding” will be awarded against each specific pledge with a final overall rating given.

The findings will support the work of the Health and Social Care Committee.

Chair's comment

Professor Dame Jane Dacre, Chair of the Expert Panel, said:

“The role of pharmacy in delivering care whether in hospital, the community or primary care has never been more important.  

“The Government has made a number of commitments aimed at improving pharmacy services and we’ll be looking at the progress to achieve these targets.

“In the process of our evaluation we’ll be hearing from stakeholders from across the industry, including the pharmacy workforce and NHS and independent providers of pharmacy services. We’ll be considering pledges covering frontline services as well as the education and training of the workforce.”

Membership of the panel 

The core members of the Expert Panel are: Professor Anita Charlesworth; Sir Robert Francis QC; Professor Stephen Peckham; Professor Emma Cave; Sir David Pearson.

For this evaluation, the Committee has appointed seven

additional members with subject area expertise. They are: 

Nadra Ahmed CBE

"I feel it is a great opportunity to ensure that social care is at the heart of objectives being met (or not). The people we care for are reliant on supports from pharmaceutical services for complex conditions which makes them critical partners for our sector."

"I hope to be able to assess the impact of the commitment made and how sustainable it has been in practice. "

Mark Lyonette

"I am delighted to be invited to join the panel. Pharmacy and Community pharmacy in particular stepped up and demonstrated its vital role for  millions of patients throughout the pandemic."

"I hope to help the HSCC evaluate to what extent UK Government is delivering on making the best use of the third largest healthcare profession."

Dr Rima Makarem

"As a first port of call for the public, Pharmacy has a key role to play in new models of integrated primary care, but will need to be supported through funding, training and additional resource.  I am very pleased to be part of this inquiry to assess how well government is giving them that support."

Dr Hamde Nazar

"I am a passionate advocate for pharmacy, especially the contribution that can be made in primary care and upskilling the future workforce to address the challenges we are seeing in health and social care. I’m honoured to be part of the expert panel, work alongside esteemed colleagues in the field and contribute to an approach of reviewing where practice currently stands which could act as a potential driver for change and development."

Dr Raliat Onatade

"I applied to join the Panel because I believe it plays a very important role in holding government to account.  I am an advocate of the value that the pharmacy profession brings to health and social care. Supporting the panel’s work is an opportunity to highlight areas where government commitments have and haven’t enabled the profession to achieve its full potential."

"My goal as a Panel member is to help produce a balanced report which rings true for everyone who reads it. Spotlighting both successes and areas of underachievement."

Ellen Williams

"Joining this panel provides an opportunity to bring the perspective of the wider pharmacy workforce, including pharmacy technicians and unregistered pharmacy team members to the independent scrutiny of progress on Government pharmacy commitments."

"By being a part of this work, I hope to ensure the government commitments selected for review by the panel, take into account the skill-mix, education, training and growth required of the whole pharmacy workforce, to enable safe and effective delivery of pharmacy services for patients and the public."

Dr Michael Twigg

"I was pleased to be asked to join this expert panel. I have worked with colleagues from all sectors of pharmacy for many years and so it will be interesting to explore whether the Government has achieved its objectives for the sector."   

"I hope to be able to provide my insight into the sector from an academic perspective and help the panel interpret the findings in coming to a fair conclusion."

Image: PA