Draft Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment Document 2025
Have your say.
Consultation status Open - 56 days leftBackground
Each Health and Wellbeing Board has to assess the need for pharmaceutical services in its area and to publish a statement of its assessment every three years. This is needed under the National Health Service (Pharmaceutical Services and Local Pharmaceutical Services) Regulations 2013 and is called a Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment (PNA). The regulations set out the minimum information that must be contained within a PNA and outline the process that must be followed in its development. A PNA includes:
- a statement of the pharmaceutical services which are currently provided, together with when and where these are available
- details of planned or likely changes which may affect the future provision of pharmaceutical services
- any current or future gaps in pharmaceutical services, considering the pharmaceutical needs of the population
The PNA will be used by NHS England to consider applications to open a new pharmacy, move an existing pharmacy or to commission additional services from a pharmacy. The document will also be used by service commissioners to inform the local commissioning strategy within West Berkshire and may act as a reference source for existing pharmaceutical services contractors who may wish to change the services they provide and/or by potential new entrants to the market.
How we developed our draft PNA
To help produce our PNA for 2024/25, we asked people and pharmaceutical contractors to share their experiences of using pharmacies in West Berkshire, so that we could assess whether the services offered meet the current and future needs of the population of West Berkshire.
You can find the consultation and what we found out here.
Why we want your views
We'd like your views on our draft PNA, and if it:
- reflects the current provision of pharmaceutical services within your area
- contains enough information to inform future pharmaceutical services provision and plans for pharmacies and dispensing appliance contractors
- highlights the appropriate pharmaceutical services that could be provided in the community pharmacy setting in the future
How to take part
You can view/download our draft Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment (PNA) Document 2025 here [3MB] and
a summary of our findings [242KB] here.
If you'd like to comment on our draft PNA document, please complete our survey by midnight on Sunday, 13 July 2025. It should take about ten minutes.
If you have any questions about the survey, please get in touch with Healthy Dialogues, who have been commissioned to deliver the PNA for the six local authorities in Berkshire, at PNA@healthydialogues.co.uk or call 07825 571498.
The survey includes equality monitoring questions so we can make sure our services are provided fairly and to those who need them. You can read more about how your data will be used and protected in Healthy Dialogues Privacy Policy.
For general enquiries about our Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment, please visit our webpage.
What happens next
All feedback we receive will be considered, analysed and used to finalise the Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment Document. The finalised document will be presented to the West Berkshire Health and Wellbeing Board before Wednesday, 1 October 2025, and published on our PNA page.
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