North Yorkshire Health and Wellbeing Board

 

19th September 2025

 

Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment 2025-28

 

 

1.0       PURPOSE OF REPORT

 

1.1         To share the final North Yorkshire Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment 2025-28 with the North Yorkshire Health and Wellbeing Board, outlining the summary of findings.

 

1.2         To recommend that the North Yorkshire Health and Wellbeing Board (HWB) approves the 2025-28 Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment for publication on 1st October 2025.

 

 

2.0       BACKGROUND/SUMMARY

 

2.1       The Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment (PNA) is a statutory duty of the Health and Wellbeing Board, with the purpose to consider current and future need for pharmaceutical services in the area, and to describe to what extent current services meet that need. A revised assessment must be published within three years, or sooner in response to significant changes to the availability of pharmaceutical services.

 

2.2       The Public Health Team oversaw the development of the PNA on behalf of the HWB. A joint multi-agency steering group was established in July 2024 in collaboration with City of York Council to share approaches and facilitate partner involvement for those organisations that cover both council areas and work across boundaries.

 

2.3       Views of the public and stakeholders were gathered in the form of a survey on pharmacy services which were key in the early work to develop the PNA – see section 4.

 

2.4       The closure of two 100-hour pharmacies, in Scarborough and Catterick Garrison respectively in 2023 are considered to create gaps in provision in both areas. A supplementary statement was issued as a result to update the 2022 PNA. These gaps in provision still persist and therefore have been considered in the 2025 PNA.

 

2.5       There are also considered to be gaps in provision of the locally commissioned Opiate Substitute Supervised Consumption Service in the Catterick Garrison, Scarborough, Tadcaster and Thirsk areas due to either absence of provision or limited capacity.

 

2.6       There have been other pharmacy closures that are not considered to have created gaps in provision. There have also been consolidations and relocation of existing pharmacy services to alternative locations within the HWB area, generally close to previous sites therefore not considered to impact on service availability.

 

2.7       Development of the PNA yielded a number of conclusions including:

·         Community pharmacy services continue to play an important role in the landscape in supporting the services provided by GP practices/dispensing practices and the PCNs.

·         Community pharmacies offer support to the wider health needs of the population by providing the essential, advanced and locally commissioned services as described in this report.

·         Overall, there is good pharmaceutical provision in most of North Yorkshire from Monday to Friday. The majority of residents can access a pharmacy within a 20-minute walking distance, and there is an adequate choice.

·         In urban areas, there is good provision of pharmaceutical services on Saturday mornings, Saturday afternoons and Sundays.

·         There are dispensing practices in rural areas to provide pharmaceutical services Monday to Friday. Whilst evening opening during this time within the rural areas would improve access and choice, no specific need for additional pharmacies to open has been identified.

·         The extended opening hours that are currently in place provide adequate access to both essential pharmaceutical services and locally commissioned services, however the HWB will continue to be vigilant in monitoring the impact of changes of hours of community pharmacy providers.

·         The new housing targets for development are significantly higher than previous, meaning any proposed future housing developments should be reviewed on a regular basis to identify any significant increases in pharmaceutical need.

·         There is good uptake of both advanced services and locally commissioned services in North Yorkshire, however, there could be better awareness and improved multi-agency working to significantly improve uptake of services in North Yorkshire.

 

2.8       The 2025-28 draft PNA was approved by the PNA Steering Group in June 2025, prior to going out to the ongoing statutory 60-day consultation, which concluded on 19th August 2025.

 

2.9       During the consultation period, the 2025-28 draft PNA was also taken to the Scrutiny of Health Committee on 4th July 2025 for views and comments from members.

 

2.10     Consultation responses have been considered and are included in the PNA for sign off by the Health and Wellbeing Board prior to publication on 1st October 2025.

 

 

3.0       PHARMACEUTICAL NEEDS ASSESSMENT 2025-28

 

3.1      

 

4.0       CONSULTATION UNDERTAKEN AND RESPONSES

 

4.1       The views of the public and a range of stakeholder organisations and groups were gathered in the form of a survey on pharmacy services. The engagement was conducted over a six-week period between late January 2025 and early March 2025, and involved:

 

·         Online survey, aimed at North Yorkshire residents:

o   Paper copies of resident’s survey were available at all libraries in North Yorkshire.

o   Different formats were available on request i.e., easy read and large print.

 

·         Email survey and/or discussion with stakeholder organisations/groups

 

            Surveys were hosted and promoted via the NYC website, press and social media platforms, with ‘Have your say’ posters displayed in pharmacies, GP surgeries, libraries and leisure centres. Messaging was also shared by partner organisations.

 

            Groups and services were also contacted directly to encourage them to engage with the survey. These included older people, carers & disability groups, commissioned services (drugs, alcohol, tobacco and mental health), dentists, GPs, pharmacies and opticians.

 

            A total of 958 people responded to the survey; more than double the number received during the previous PNA, which saw 447 responses. Notably, a significant proportion of responses originated from the Easingwold area, which raised concerns that have been noted by the PNA Steering Group and are being monitored by the ICB and Community Pharmacy North Yorkshire (CPNY) CPNY.

 

            Key headlines from the survey responses show that the majority of North Yorkshire residents were positive about the availability of pharmacies and services provided which suggests that overall, they were happy with the services their usual pharmacy provided. Areas for improvement were increased staffing, medication availability, and extended opening times.

 

            There were 3 responses to the stakeholder survey. Generally, there was felt to be good access to pharmacy services for stakeholder’s service users, although access issues related to rurality such as expensive or insufficient public transport was mentioned. This is exacerbated with the provision of certain services that are not routinely offered countywide or are not accepting additional service users.

 

5.2       The 2025-28 draft PNA was out to the statutory 60-day consultation between late June and late August 2025. This was hosted on the City of York Council website and promoted via press and internal comms to NYC staff. In keeping with the NHS (Pharmaceutical Services and Local Pharmaceutical Services) Regulations (2013) all statutory stakeholders were consulted during this time, including local NHS organisations, the Local Pharmaceutical Committee and all neighbouring local authorities.

 

            Stakeholders were asked to respond to the following specific consultation questions:

1.          Do you think that the draft PNA captures all of the relevant information needed      

to identify gaps in pharmacy provision in North Yorkshire?

2.         Do you think that the draft PNA captures all of the relevant information needed to enable commissioning decisions about pharmaceutical service provision over the next 3 years?

3.         Do you agree with the conclusions identified in the draft PNA?

4.         Is there anything that you think is missing from the PNA that should be included or considered when reaching conclusions about services and need?

5.         Pharmacies offer a range of services. How do you think these should be communicated and publicised?

6.         Do you have any other comments?

           

There were 18 responses, 10 from members of the public and 8 from organisations. Responses were predominately not PNA issues therefore major changes to the PNA have not been required. Consultation responses have been included and responded to in the PNA.

 

 

6.0       ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS CONSIDERED

 

6.1       Not applicable, publication of updated PNA is a statutory duty of the HWB.

 

7.0       IMPACT ON OTHER SERVICES/ORGANISATIONS

 

7.1       Identified gaps in pharmaceutical provision highlighted as part of the PNA may invite and support applications from the pharmacy market that will be reviewed by the ICB.

 

8.0       FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

 

8.1       The PNA has no direct implications to finances. It may invite potential pharmacy applications to address gaps in provision once published, which will then have implications to the commissioning organisation.

 

9.0       LEGAL IMPLICATIONS

 

9.1       Publishing the PNA means the HWB meets its statutory obligations.

 

10.0     EQUALITIES IMPLICATIONS

 

10.1     The PNA has no implications on equalities, other than to invite potential pharmacy applications to address gaps in provision once published, which may improve access to certain groups. These have been considered in the Equality Impact Assessment in Appendix 2 of the PNA.

 

11.0     CLIMATE CHANGE IMPLICATIONS

 

11.1     The PNA has no implications on climate change, other than to invite potential pharmacy applications to address gaps in provision once published, which may improve physical access to certain groups, reducing emissions.

 

 

12.0     REASONS FOR RECOMMENDATIONS

 

12.1     The PNA is recommended for approval to ensure the Health and Wellbeing Board meets its statutory obligations and gaps in pharmaceutical provision are highlighted. The PNA may then be used to support potential pharmacy applications to deliver services which are vital to supporting the health and wellbeing of residents across the county.

 

13.0

RECOMMENDATION(S)      

 

 

For the Health and Wellbeing Board to approve the Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment 2025-28 for publication on 1st October 2025.

 

 

           

 

Louise Wallace

Director of Public Health

Health and Adult services

County Hall

Northallerton

19th September 2025

 

Report Authors:

Andrew Stewart, Service Development Manager

Natalie Smith, Head of Service HAS planning and commissioning