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Exclusive: The chief officer of two local pharmaceutical committees (LPCs) in the East Midlands has said pressure is increasing on LPCs because there are “very few people with any community pharmacy expertise left” within integrated care boards (ICBs) and NHS England.

Nick Hunter (pictured) the chief officer at Community Pharmacy Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, told Independent Community Pharmacist he believes LPCs in England are dealing with increasing numbers of queries but suggested the situation in the East Midlands is worse because of “significant staff churn” at the primary care team that handles pharmacy, dental and optometry for the five ICBs in the region.

In November last year during the NHS Providers Conference in Manchester, the health secretary Wes Streeting gave the go-ahead for a 50 per cent reduction in employees at ICBs.

Labour has said around 18,000 posts will eventually be abolished to generate more than £1 billion which will be redirected to frontline patient care.

“Ongoing underfunding and pressure on pharmacy teams, especially independents, means they struggle to cope, so LPCs get more and more queries, there being very few people with any community pharmacy expertise left in NHSE and ICB teams now,” Hunter said.

He said it was “hard to put any precise figures” on how many more queries his LPCs were having to deal with as a result of fewer people with community pharmacy expertise on ICBs but insisted requests for information were “varied”.

“It’s hard (to say how many more queries we get) – it’s been a drift over the last year or so,” Hunter said. “From talking to other LPCs, I feel East Midlands fairs worse than other areas although, as I don’t keep specific details of all queries, I can’t say anything more than ‘anecdotally’.

“Quite a few are about nominations issues, also market entry including consolidations, local and national service queries, dosettes, care homes, vaccinations, pricing, supply and ever increasingly general moans.

“It’s ‘he said, she said’ stuff which is due to the increased pressure and frustration of frontline pharmacy.”

Hunter said the East Midlands primary care team “had nearly as many vacancies as staff in the team at one point”.

“Just as the new recruits start settling in, the NHS restructures and cuts bite again, with many staff leaving,” he said.

What is your experience as an LPC? Get in touch – neil.trainis@1530.com