Source · Select Committees · Health and Social Care Committee
Recommendation 15
15
Deferred
Paragraph: 92
Caution against mandating widespread implementation of hub and spoke systems in pharmacies.
Recommendation
While hub and spoke arrangements may be beneficial to some pharmacies, we do not believe this is a ‘silver bullet’ in terms of efficiencies. We urge the Government not to assume that hub and spoke alone will deliver the extra capacity pharmacists clearly need to deliver clinical services. We note the Government’s response to their consultation and intention to proceed with plans to allow hub and spoke systems to be set up across different legal entities, but caution against encouraging, or even mandating, more widespread implementation.
Government Response Summary
The government deflected the recommendation about hub and spoke arrangements by discussing the eligibility of MPharm students for the Learning Support Fund and exploring consistent policy for funding their travel and accommodation costs.
Paragraph Reference:
92
Government Response
Deferred
HM Government
Deferred
The Committee raises an interesting issue. MPharm students are outside of the scope of the Learning Support Fund (LSF) as it only applies to those courses which were eligible for the NHS Bursary prior to the 2017 reforms. We will consider the professions eligible for the learning support fund as part of the refresh of the Long Term Workforce Plan. DHSC is working with NHS England to explore how to introduce a single, consistent policy for funding excess travel and accommodation costs incurred by MPharm students on placements.