Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment (PNA) 2025 Consultation

Overview

What is a Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment (PNA)?

The Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment (PNA) describes the current and future needs for pharmaceutical services in Sutton. It is used to identify any gaps in current services, or improvements that could be made in future pharmaceutical service provision. 

It does this by providing an overview of pharmacy services in Sutton (what is provided and where) and then makes an assessment about whether what is currently in place meets the needs of residents, both now and in the future.  The focus of the assessment is on access to pharmaceutical services. 

The government requires all Health and Wellbeing Boards to update their PNA every three years. 

What are Pharmaceutical Services?

Pharmaceutical services are one of the many services currently provided under the NHS by community pharmacies and include:

• Dispensing of medicines and appliances on prescription
• Sale of medicines to the public
• Providing advice to the public on medicines, coping with ill health or general health and wellbeing
• Receiving waste medicines for safe destruction

Who will use the Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment?

The PNA is used by local NHS leaders, helping them determine whether to approve changes to the pharmaceutical provision in Sutton. This may include applications for new pharmacies to open, consolidation of existing pharmacies or changes to location.

Why your views matter

Have your say

We have drafted the Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment, and now we want to hear what you think. 

The purpose of the consultation is to receive feedback on the accuracy of the report and the extent to which the findings reflect the views of those living and working in Sutton. We wish to encourage a wide range of individuals, organisations, groups and healthcare professionals to provide their feedback.

We are consulting with a range of statutory organisations, such as pharmacy contractors, Healthwatch, the ICB and neighbouring areas, as well as any patient, consumer or community group in the borough with an interest in the provision of pharmaceutical services. Your comments will inform the final Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment, which will be published in October 2025.

Please read the draft Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment document (see below) before you answer the questions. You can print the document and share it with others who might want to take part but can't fill in the online survey.

Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment

Your answers will be anonymous, meaning they won't be linked directly to you. However, we will be collecting some equality information (like ethnicity, religion, and sexual orientation). This helps us understand the different needs of Sutton residents when it comes to pharmacy services. This equality data will be shared securely with Soar Beyond. While it's unlikely you could be identified from this information alone, we will treat it as personal data under GDPR. It will be stored securely by us and shared securely with Soar Beyond, only for the purpose of understanding and improving pharmacy services. For more details, please read our Public Health privacy notice at:

https://www.sutton.gov.uk/w/privacy-notice-and-data-protection-public-health-services
 

Thank you for helping us with the Sutton Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment (PNA) 2025 consultation.

The consultation runs from 7 July 2025 to 7 September 2025 at 11.59pm.