Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment

The pharmaceutical needs assessment (PNA) is a statutory document that states the pharmacy needs of the local population. This includes dispensing services as well as public health and other services that pharmacies may provide. It is used as the framework for making decisions when granting new contracts and approving changes to existing contracts as well as for commissioning pharmacy services. First detailed in the NHS Act 2006 where PCTs were divested with the responsibility for producing the PNA, since 1 April 2013 this responsibility now sits with Health & Wellbeing Boards (HWB).

The NHS (Pharmaceutical and Local Pharmaceutical Services) Regulations 2013, effective from 1 April 2013, require each HWB to:

• Make a revised assessment as soon as is reasonably practicable after identifying changes to the need for pharmaceutical services which are of a significant extent.
• Publish its first PNA by 1 April 2015.

National guidance states that the PNA should detail the current pharmaceutical service provision available in the area and where there may need to be changes to this in the future because of changes to the health needs or geographical location of the local population.

NHS England teams are mandated under the same regulations to use the PNA when making decisions on applications to open new pharmacies and dispensing appliance contractor premises.

Local Authorities and NHS commissioning bodies will also use the PNA to inform their commissioning decisions, when commissioning local services from community pharmacies.

Robust, up-to-date evidence is important to ensure that community pharmacy services are provided in the right place and meet the needs of the communities they serve. The PNA has been produced on behalf of the Health and Wellbeing Board, and covers the period 2022-2025.

• Halton Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment 2022 - 2025
• Supplementary Statement number 1 February 2023
• Supplementary statement number 2 November 2023
• Supplementary statement number 3 April 2024
• Supplementary statement number 4 June 2024
• Supplementary statement number 5 July 2024

Draft 2025-28 PNA for consultation 

Halton Health and Wellbeing Board has produced the first draft of its 2025 Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment (PNA) report. It is a statutory duty for the Health and Wellbeing Boards to publish a PNA and keep it up to date. 

Download Halton draft PNA 2025-28

The PNA Steering Group welcome comments on the current draft of the 2025-2028 PNA.  The consultation is open to all. The purpose of the consultation is to received feedback on the accuracy of the report and the extent to which the findings reflect the views of the those living in Halton. 

Your feedback will be used to inform the final report which is scheduled for publication on or before 1^st  October 2025 

We therefore invite you to view and comment during the consultation period:

Monday 3^rd February to Sunday 6^th April 2025 at 11:59pm.

Please note that any responses received after this time may not be included in the findings report. 

After reading the draft PNA report, please complete the online PNA consultation questionnaire which can be found at https://forms.haltonbc.info/app/forms/PNA