Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with (1) the Chief Pharmaceutical Officer, (2) the Care Quality Commission, (3) the General Pharmaceutical Council, and (4) the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, relating to the performance of homecare medicines services.

The Department has not made an assessment of the performance of the National Homecare Medicines Committee (NHMC). Providers of Homecare Medicine services to National Health Service patients do so under framework agreements and contracts which may be held at national level through NHS England, regional level through NHS procurement hubs, or local level through hospital trusts. This therefore requires a high degree of centralised co-ordination for which the NHMC liaises with homecare providers through their trade association the National Clinical Homecare Association (NCHA) to support and co-ordinate development of the homecare market and discuss any system wide issues. The NHMC includes representatives from the NHS, including NHS England and Pharmaceutical officers, homecare providers, pharmaceutical manufacturer associations and the Care Quality Commission.

NHS England, the NHMC and the NCHA have discussed concerns about the performance of homecare medicines services with officials from the Department.