Medicines Commissioning by Pharmacy and Medicines Optimisation Update

At PM Healthcare’s ICB/ICS Development & Medicines Strategy Forum today, Mohammed Asghar (Associate Director of Pharmacy: Prescribing Governance, Thames Valley ICB) provided a forward-looking and practical overview of how medicines commissioning and optimisation are evolving within a rapidly changing and challenging NHS landscape.

The session explored the shift from operational delivery to strategic commissioning, with ICBs increasingly acting as system architects focused on outcomes rather than activity.

Describing the real-world challenges (the RCA Reality) of merging large healthcare entities within a challenging organisational and financial environment, Mohammed described the importance of collaboration at scale, including regional commissioning structures and new approaches to industry engagement focused on outcomes and pathway redesign. At the same time, neighbourhood integration and the expanding clinical role of pharmacy present opportunities to improve access and system efficiency.

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