Independent Review of Medicines Homecare in Scotland: review report and recommendations

Appendix 2: NHS Medicines Homecare Review Reference Group Terms of Reference and Membership

1. Name of Group

NHS Scotland Medicines Homecare Review Reference Group.

2. Overview

The NHS Scotland Medicines Homecare Review (the Review) aims to evaluate the approaches to supply of secondary care-initiated medicines and associated care to patients in the community in Scotland. Professor Alison Strath, Chief Pharmaceutical Officer, Scottish Government has appointed Ben Hannan, Executive Director of Pharmacy and Medicines, NHS Fife as Independent Review Lead.

The Review is an independent and stand-alone piece of work. The Review Lead is responsible for decision-making in relation to a final Review Report and recommendations therein. The Review Report will be provided to the Chief Pharmaceutical Officer by 31 March 2024.

3. Purpose

The Review of Medicines Homecare in Scotland Reference Group is a short-life working group that has been established to provide expert advice from a range of perspectives to the Medicines Homecare Review.

The Review Reference Group will act as a ‘critical friend’ to support the Review Lead to form recommendations for the future of medicines homecare in Scotland. Review recommendations will be informed by findings and conclusions drawn from the call for evidence survey and stakeholder engagement activities.

The Chief Pharmaceutical Officer will consider the final Review Report and recommendations within Scottish Government.

4. Roles and Responsibilities

The Review Reference Group will:

• Share specialist expertise, knowledge, information, and insight from their respective expert areas with the Review Lead including areas relating to people’s lived experience.
• Provide a connection between the Review and stakeholders by offering input from their respective expert areas.
• Work collaboratively with other Review Reference Group members.
• Participate in stakeholder engagement activities, supporting the co-ordination of constructive input, as required.
• Act as a sense check on emerging review themes and findings and reflect the views of stakeholders.
• Provide a forum for critical discussion of emerging findings and recommendations to support the Review Lead to make final recommendations, as appropriate.

5. Membership

The Review Reference Group is multi-disciplinary and multi-agency reflecting the skills and expertise required to appropriately represent stakeholder groups from the pharmacy and medicines homecare community. The group is diverse in its membership and provides an opportunity for wider stakeholder involvement in line with the Review Reference Group roles and responsibilities.

The following is a list of members of the Review Reference Group.

Role/Representing: Chair

Responsibilities

• Leads the Medicines Homecare Review providing clear leadership, guidance and direction.
• Key decision maker in relation to the final Review Report and recommendations therein.

Member: Ben Hannan, NHS Scotland Medicines Homecare Review Lead

Role/Representing: ABPI Scotland

Responsibilities

• Specialist knowledge and representation of the pharmaceutical industry in Scotland.
• Provide guidance and advice on access to medicines from a pharmaceutical industry perspective.

Member: Ross Maclagan, Distribution and Supply Chain Policy Manager, ABPI Scotland

Alison Culpan, President, ABPI Scotland

Role/Representing: Association of Pharmacy Technicians UK(APTUK)

Responsibilities

• Specialist knowledge and representation of their respective expert area of pharmacy technicians.
• Provide guidance and advice from the lens of pharmacy technicians.

Member: Claire Steele, President, APTUK

Melanie Bryan, Professional Lead, APTUK

Role/Representing: Community Pharmacy Scotland (CPS)

Responsibilities

• Specialist knowledge and representation of their respective expert area of community pharmacy owners and their teams.
• Provide guidance and advice from the lens of policy and development in community pharmacy settings.

Member: Adam Osprey, Policy and Development Pharmacist, CPS

Role/Representing: Crohn’s & Colitis UK

Responsibilities

• Provide guidance and advice from the lens of people with lived experience accessing medicines homecare services.
• Specialist knowledge and representation of people living with Crohn’s and Colitis.

Member: Amy Deptford, Policy Manager, Crohn’s & Colitis UK

Role/Representing: Directors of Pharmacy

Responsibilities

• Specialist knowledge and representation of their respective expert area including homecare services and medicines governance.
• Provide guidance and advice from an NHS territorial board remote and rural perspective.

Member: Tony McDavitt, Director of Pharmacy, NHS Shetland and NHS Orkney

Role/Representing: Directors of Pharmacy

Responsibilities

• Specialist knowledge and representation of their respective expert area including homecare services and medicines governance.
• Provide guidance and advice from the lens of an NHS territorial board.

Member: Scott Garden, Director of Pharmacy and Medicines, NHS Lothian

Role/Representing: National Acute Pharmacy Service Leads (NAPS)

Responsibilities

• Specialist knowledge and representation of their respective area.
• Provide guidance and advice from the lens of acute lead pharmacists who are operationally responsible for all acute pharmacy service including medicines homecare.

Member: Melinda Cuthbert, Chair, NAPS

Alan O’Kane, NAPS Deputy

Role/Representing: National Clinical Homecare Association (NCHA)

Responsibilities

• Specialist knowledge and representation of homecare providers.
• Provide guidance and advice from the lens organisations that provide homecare services to patients in Scotland.

Member: Alison Davis, Chair, NCHA

Role/Representing: National Procurement, NSS

Responsibilities

• Specialist knowledge and representation of their respective expert area of national procurement of medicines, contracting and associated homecare arrangements.
• Provide guidance and advice on existing medicines homecare arrangements and logistics for future models of care.

Member: Lindsay McClure, Associate Director – Medicines Pricing and Supply, National Procurement, NSS

Role/Representing: NHS Scotland Medicines Homecare National Governance and Management Group (MHNGMG)

Responsibilities

• Specialist knowledge and representation of their respective area.
• Provide guidance and advice around the oversight on the national arrangements for governance, management and operationalising of medicines homecare in NHS territorial boards.

Member: Bruce Wilkie,

Chair MHNGMG

Role/Representing: Pharmaceutical Public Health Network

Responsibilities

• Specialist knowledge and representation of their respective expert area of pharmaceutical public health.
• Provide guidance and advice from an NHS territorial board perspective on pharmaceutical public health in relation to medicines homecare.

Member: Katherine Davidson, Consultant in Pharmaceutical Public Health, NHS Lothian

Role/Representing: Pharmacologistics Subject Matter Expert

Responsibilities

• Specialist knowledge and representation of their respective expert area of NHS territorial board procurement of medicines and medicines homecare.
• Provide guidance and advice from the lens of an NHS territorial board.

Member: Gayle Robertson, Manager Clinical Technical Services, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde

Role/Representing: PHS

Responsibilities

• Specialist knowledge and representation of their respective expert area of pharmaceutical public health.
• Provide guidance and advice from a national perspective on pharmaceutical public health in relation to medicines homecare.

Member: Marion Bennie, Chief Pharmacist, PHS

Role/Representing: RPS

Responsibilities

• Specialist knowledge and representation of their respective expert area of the pharmacy profession in Scotland.
• Provide guidance and advice as the professional membership body for pharmacists and pharmacy.

Member: Fiona McIntyre, Policy and Practice Lead, RPS

Role/Representing: Scottish Association of Medical Directors (SAMD)

Responsibilities

• Specialist knowledge and representation of clinical and care governance issues
• Provide guidance and advice from the lens of medical colleagues that support medicines homecare in Scotland.

Member: Crawford McGuffie, Chair, SAMD

Role/Representing: Scottish Cancer Network

Responsibilities

• Specialist knowledge and representation of the use of oncology medicines.
• Provide guidance and advice from the lens of pharmacists working in cancer services whose patients access medicines homecare services.

Member: Lisa MacLeod, National Lead Pharmacist, Scottish Cancer Network

Role/Representing: Scottish Society for Rheumatology

Responsibilities

• Specialist knowledge and representation of rheumatology professionals in Scotland.
• Provide guidance and advice from the lens of professionals who are responsible and involved in the prescribing, monitoring, registering and consenting of medicines.

Member: Sarah Berry, Public Affairs Manager, British Society for Rheumatology

The Review Lead met independently with the Chair of Scottish Executive Nurse Directors Group (SEND) to ensure that the nursing perspective to this Review was noted and considered.

The following members of the Review Project Board supported the Review Reference Group:

Jason Cormack, Review Report Co-Author (Business Manager, Pharmacy and Medicines Directorate, NHS Fife).

Report author supporting the conclusion of the review into report format. Supports the Review Lead to achieve the requisite findings and recommendations required.

Frances Notman, Research and Analytics Lead (Lead Pharmacist – Projects, Pharmacy and Medicines Directorate, NHS Fife)

Review researcher undertaking systematic qualitative theming, analysis and summarising of the call for evidence survey results and follow up stakeholder engagement.

Donna O’Rourke, Project Manager, NHS National Services Scotland

Secretariat to the Review Reference Group.

Provide project management support to the Review and Review Reference Group.

In addition to the core membership, co-option of individuals for specific issues will take place, when necessary, as attendees to the Review Reference Group.

6. Meetings

Meeting will be held virtually using Microsoft Teams and will be planned for monthly until March 2024. Meetings via MS Teams will be recorded and transcribed to facilitate writing up of minutes and action notes. Recordings will be deleted once these documents are signed off.

Minutes and/or action notes will be drafted by the Project Manager and approved by the Review Lead. Minutes of the meeting will be issued within seven working days of the meeting having taken place for agreement by the Review Reference Group at its subsequent meeting, as a standing agenda item.

Going forward the agenda and any associated papers for each meeting, along with an update of the minutes from the previous meeting will be distributed at least three working days in advance of each meeting.

Interim business will be conducted via email and Microsoft Teams, as required.

7. Decision making

The Review Reference Group is advisory. The Review Lead is responsible for decision making in relation to the final Review Report and Review recommendations.

8. Confidentiality

All meeting and background papers will be stored in a dedicated Review Microsoft Teams Channel, managed by the Project Manager. Copies of this documentation will be made available electronically upon written request (via email) to the Project Manager.

Meeting invitations will be issued from the dedicated Review inbox. The recording and/or transcription of a meeting will also be available within the chat for meeting within MS Teams until after the subsequent meeting has taken place. Once minutes and action notes have been approved by the Chair and agreed by members of the Review Reference Group present at that meeting, the recording and transcription from the previous meeting will be deleted.

The Project Manager will be responsible for recording and transcribing meetings, and removing recordings and transcriptions once approved and agreed.

All Review documentation will be managed in line with the NHS National Services Scotland document retention policy.

9. Lifespan

The lifespan of the Review Reference Group is expected to last for the duration of the Review until the end of March 2023.