Foreword
You have been sent a link to this webpage because you, or the organisation you represent, have been identified as having an interest in the local provision of community pharmacy (and dispensing appliance contractors) and as such an interest in the 2025-2028 Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment (PNA) for Devon. As stated in the Department of Health & Social care PNA information pack for locality health and wellbeing boards, Regulation 8 requires the Health and Wellbeing board to consult a specified range of organisations You are receiving this information as part of a selected group invited to participate in a targeted consultation. This is not a public consultation, and the materials and link provided are intended solely for your use. Please do not forward or share the consultation link or any related documents with others. This ensures the integrity and confidentiality of the consultation process. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.
Consultation on the Devon PNA will run from Wednesday, 11 June 2025 to Sunday, 10 August 2025. The link below (Main Document) will take you to a copy of the 2025-2028 PNA for Devon. Please take the time to read the report and answer the questions as fully as you are able.
To complete the five short survey questions relating to its content please return to the email that contains the survey link.
Once the consultation period ends, a consultation report will be produced (to be included in the final published PNA) and changes to the PNA will be considered. The final version of the PNA will then be presented and discussed with the Devon Health and Wellbeing Board. This will enable the 2025-2028 PNA to be published before the 1st October 2025 deadline.
Introduction
A Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment (PNA) is a comprehensive assessment of the current and future pharmaceutical needs of the local population for community pharmacy, dispensing appliance contractors, and dispensing doctors in rural areas (where relevant). The Health and Social Care Act 2012 transferred the responsibility to develop and update PNAs from Primary Care Trusts to Health and Wellbeing Boards (H&WBs) from 1st April 2013. This means that Devon’s H&WB has a legal duty to ensure the production of a PNA for Devon every three years or sooner if changes to the need for pharmaceutical services are identified which are of significant extent.
The PNA for Devon 2025-2028 presents a picture of community pharmacy need and provision in Devon, and links to Devon’s Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA). The PNA serves two main purposes:
- To assist NHS Devon Integrated Commissioning Board (ICB) in evaluating requests for new pharmacies or changes to existing ones
- To aid local commissioners in deciding on services that community pharmacies could offer to address the future health needs of the population.
It should be noted that the main audience for the PNA is those wishing to enter the local pharmaceutical market. The analysis contained within this document is limited to the identification of gaps in terms of location, opening hours and service availability as defined by Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC). It is acknowledged that there may be issues with access to pharmaceutical services for Devon residents that fall outside of this scope. These include the quality of the service provided by community pharmacies such as
- medication availability
- staffing levels
- waiting times
These should be referred to the organisations which are responsible for these aspects of service delivery.
It is acknowledged that some community pharmacies have closed, consolidated, or reduced their opening hours, since the last PNA was published. The loss of these services will be noticeable, especially for those residents in the affected areas. However, the purpose of the PNA is to systematically assess provision across Devon as a whole and to ensure that gaps are not identified inappropriately or in areas where the market cannot sustain another provider. At the same time, it needs to be recognised that future trends in community pharmacy provision suggest an increasingly clinically focused role, with less emphasis on dispensing and greater use of technology and automation to make dispensing more efficient.
Main Report
The Devon Health and Wellbeing Board uses interactive elements to support the 2025-28 PNA.
Health Needs interactive tool
Demographic and health needs data can be found using the Health Needs interactive tool.
Pharmacy Provision
The Pharmacy provision interactive tool supplements the locality summaries with interactive mapping and features.