The Norwich Primary Care Network (PCN) Pharmacy Team has continued to grow since its inception in 2019 and has now (2022) seen six of its pharmacists become independent prescribers as they come to the end of their educational pathway in primary care, which will further support practices with more complex tasks. We also have a number of pharmacy technicians who have completed their training pathway and have become a great asset to their practices.

The Additional Role Reimbursement Scheme has enabled OneNorwich Practices (ONP) to recruit a total of 12 pharmacists and 8 pharmacy technicians who are embedding well with practices’ teams and greatly supporting practice resilience. Although already a large team, we listen to practices, and we are in constant search to increase our capacity as a service.

These roles have a key role in conducting audits, completing several indicators of the Prescribing Quality Scheme. They also support completion of indicators for the Impact and Investment Fund, focusing on supporting the PCN to deliver high quality care to their population, and the delivery of the priority objectives articulated in the NHS Long Term Plan.

Furthermore, the team contributes to reduce the burden of medicines’ related tasks, reconciling discharge medications and delivering the Structured Medication Review (SMR) service.

A dedicated Care Home specialist group was created to specifically support with the SMR service for the practices’ Care Homes as well as forming part of the MDT approach to the Care Homes At Scale project.

The team continues to be involved in the Covid Vaccination Programme operating at the weekends.