Agenda item

Report of the Director of Public Health

The Director of Public Health submitted a report to update the Health and Wellbeing Board with regards to the progress of the review and re-write of the Darlington Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment. To also request the board to delegate authority to the Chair of the Health and Wellbeing Board and the Director of Public Health to approve the PNA process.

 The report stated that from the 1 April 2013, every Health and Wellbeing Board in England now has a statutory responsibility to publish and to keep up to date a statement of the needs for pharmaceutical services in the population of its area, referred to as a Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment (PNA). The current PNA was published back in October 2022 with a lifespan of three years, the new one is required to be published by September 2025.

The report explained the purpose of the PNA, the progress made to date and the next steps. The final version of the PNA will be published by the 1 October 2025.

Discussion ensued around the document’s lifespan of 3 years and whether information and data is regularly updated within the report to reflect the opening and closure of pharmacies. The group went onto discuss whether this document could be reviewed annually by the Health and Wellbeing Board.

AGREED – That Members noted the report and delegated authority to the Chair of the Health and Wellbeing Board and Director of Public Health to manage and approve the PNA process.