Aligning pharmacy and GP contracts would help clinicians deliver better patient care, National Pharmacy Association (NPA) chair Nick Kaye has suggested.

Speaking at our sister title Pulse PCN's London conference this week, Mr Kaye said: 'We don't like the adversarial stuff with GP colleagues. We don't like falling out about flu jabs. We'd rather have population targets.

'There's more than enough work for everyone. So somewhere in there, there needs to be clever contract alignment to actually allow population care to be given.'

Mr Kaye said he hoped changes for the NHS and the government's 10-Year Health Plan would mean an end to 'contracts that pitch really good healthcare clinicians against each other to create a competitive environment, because actually we should be treating patients'.

Separate and competitive contractual arrangements for pharmacies and GPs, such as flu jab targets, 'destroys longer collaborative relationships for two months of the year, which is a nightmare and pointless', Mr Kaye said.

Contractual incentives across the whole system needed to be 'patient focused, outcome based', he added.

Mr Kaye, who sits on an integrated care board (ICB), also highlighted how community pharmacy can play a more clinical role in patient care, while also freeing up GPs for more complex cases.

'I've got board meetings this week about how you left shift money into [primary care],' he said.

'That left shift needs to carry on through the entire system.

'If [GPs are] dealing with really complex care... where's the left shift then? Back to community pharmacy... everyone has to left shift.'

Find out more about Pulse PCN events.