By Neil Trainis

The pharmacy minister Neil O’Brien will give evidence to a Lords Committee on Monday which will examine the issues facing better integration of primary and community care.

The evidence session by the Lords Integration of Primary and Community Care Committee will look at the issues raised by the Fuller Stocktake report which was published last year and set out a vision to improve access, experience and outcomes for local communities, the recommendations of which NHS England said will form a key part its plans going forward.

The report warned there were “real signs of genuine and growing discontent with primary care, both from the public who use it and the professionals who work within it.”

The Lords session will also examine the issues raised by an independent review of integrated care systems that was carried out by the former health secretary Patricia Hewitt. The review acknowledged that community pharmacy’s workforce was enduring significant pressures and highlighted the impact of the additional roles reimbursement scheme in exacerbating those pressures.

Hewitt noted that “contracts with national requirements can have unintended consequences when applied to particular circumstances” but said integrated care boards had “an important opportunity, at place or system level, to integrate the whole primary care offer for communities, making the best use of both the staffing resource available and the premises.”

The Lords session will also consider digital interoperability in facilitating the integration of healthcare professions, how the Department of Health and Social Care will use integrated care to improve health inequalities and public health and how it will address factors such as workforce shortages. The social care minister Helen Whately will also give evidence.

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