Department of Health
NHS England says it will not be responding to the recommendations made in the independent Murray review of community pharmacy in January 2017, despite claims made by health minister David Mowat.
Mowat told MPs during a parliamentary debate about pharmacy and integrated health services on 11 January 2017 that NHS England would be making its views known about the Murray review in January.
“The Murray review… sets out in some detail what we believe the direction of travel should be,” he said. “I expect NHS England to respond this month — if I may put that on the record in that way. NHS England will respond, not me.”
He said there was little in the review that was “controversial”, adding: “There are a lot of very good points, many of them about IT integration and the care record.”
Mowat also said he “agreed completely” that pharmacists needed both read and write access to patient records in order for progress to be made.
However, NHS England said on 16 January 2017 that the minister had been wrong and that it did not plan to respond to the review in January. A spokesperson added that NHS England does ”not have a confirmed date for announcement on the Richard Murray report”.
The independent ‘Community pharmacy clinical services review’ by Richard Murray, director of policy at the King’s Fund, was commissioned by Keith Ridge, NHS England’s chief pharmaceutical officer, in April 2016.
Published in December 2016, the review recommends greater use of repeat dispensing and independent prescribing in community pharmacy and wants better digital connectivity to allow registered pharmacy professionals full read and write access to patient medical records.
