Litherland Out of Hours Pharmacy
Date exercise ended - Saturday, January 31, 2015
Sefton residents were asked for their views on proposals to close the restricted opening Out of Hours Pharmacy at Litherland Town Hall Health Centre between December 2014 and January 2015.
This consultation followed a review of this NHS South Sefton and NHS Southport and Formby CCG service earlier in 2014 focusing on its effectiveness. The review took place from 26 May to 13 June 2014 and included speaking to people who used the out of hours pharmacy. It found that only a small number of people used the service and if it was closed, there would be other ways to ensure people could still get their medicines outside the opening hours of normal chemists.
Healthcare commissioners also have a duty to spend the money we get for health services in Sefton wisely. By closing the out of hours pharmacy, the CCGs proposed they would be able to better spend the money it costs to run the service on more priority health services that benefit a greater number of Sefton residents.
The out of hours pharmacy was set up 10 years ago to support Sefton’s GP Out of Hours service and to help people get their medicines when high street chemists were closed. Because of this, the Out of Hours Pharmacy has only short opening hours, mainly in the late evening and for part of the weekend.
Things had changed since the service was set up and there are now chemists on the high street and in superstores that match and, in many cases, exceed the opening hours of the town hall pharmacy - several are in walking distance of the health centre – so there is more choice for the residents of Sefton.
If the current Out of Hours Pharmacy is closed, patients would be advised to use any of the chemists nearby, the closest being 100 metres away. When these regular chemists are closed we would provide a ‘wrap-around’ GP prescribing service which would ensure that patients are not disadvantaged during these times.
The GP ‘wrap-around’ prescribing service would involve the doctors from the Out of Hours service supplying medicines directly to patients. This would be available when all other chemists nearby are closed on a Saturday and Sunday night. As a result, both CCG governing bodies agreed to close the service from the end of March 2015.
Reports
Out of Hours Pharmacy review - summary report June 2014
Consultation information leaflet - December 2014
Final consultation report - summary February 2015
Information leaflets and posters
