Key Challenge 5
Partnership Working

To work in partnership with all our stakeholders to improve our communications and influence policy development.


Key Outcome for Stakeholders
People and organisations that use, benefit from, or pay for our services, should be able to access these conveniently, influence their development and understand how to get the best from them.

Introduction
We are committed to building effective working relationships with our stakeholders in order to understand their business needs and to pursue our shared goals. We will take steps to improve our communications with stakeholders to enable them to make best use of our services. We will continue to contribute to shaping Government policy for the NHS where we have the knowledge and expertise to add value to this process.

Understanding Stakeholder Satisfaction
In order to understand the needs and experiences of our service users we will periodically undertake stakeholder satisfaction surveys in each of the main areas of product and service provision. We will use the information these surveys generate to identify those areas of our services with which stakeholders are least satisfied. We will work to continuously improve any such areas within our control. We will also examine stakeholders' views to inform us of how best we can engage them in the future.

We will ultimately aim to ensure that, in taking forward our services, stakeholders are fully consulted and their requirements are taken into account in the design and implementation of the final services in so far as available funding permits.

The PPA Information Portal
Our Web Site acts as a vital source of information, for NHS stakeholders and the public, on the total range of our services. The site acts (for NHS stakeholders only) as the portal to our electronic prescribing information services, provides details of service availability and information on prescribing and dispensing issues. We have developed an on-line system to allow PCTs to specify a range of locally defined payments to pharmacy contractors. Building on this principle, the site will become a more significant route for collecting and managing information from stakeholders.

We are committed to improving the format and content of our Web Site to make it even more useful to those seeking information about the organisation and its services. To that end, we will continue to encourage, through the site itself, feedback on its usability and content and will respond positively to suggestions for improvement.

NHSnet Site http://www.ppa.nhs.uk/

Internet Web Site http://www.ppa.org.uk/

Engaging Stakeholder Representative Groups
Stakeholder representative groups have an interest in our activities, especially those that have a direct impact on the services their members use. We will consult with them on a regular basis when we are considering changes and improvements to our core services.

Where it is appropriate, we will work in partnership with stakeholder representative groups to influence policy in order to further the Government's aims and objectives for the NHS. We will develop a focused dialogue with our three principal stakeholder groups - prescribers, dispensers and patients to inform the continuing progress of our services.

Engaging Government
It is important that those required to implement change understand the basis for policy changes to ensure that they can be implemented in a timely, efficient and professional manner. The strength of the advice we can offer Government derives not only from our experience managing its prescription pricing, payment and information services. It also comes from providing other management services to the NHS and from our position of being a national NHS service provider to a range of local stakeholders.

We are uniquely placed to advise Government on the operational implications of the policies that directly affect our services. We will build on the relationships we have created with Government to shape policy on a range of issues where we have the knowledge and expertise to add value to the process.

Public Private Partnerships
We have grown a diverse supply base for our services. Some of our support service functions, essential support and maintenance activities and some of our newest front-line services are already outsourced to third party suppliers.

We have developed a convenient telephone ordering facility for PPCs through a contractual relationship with a private sector provider who provides the flexibility and responsiveness that is essential to a sales focussed activity. We have also established a partnership approach to the distribution of the PCDD to ensure its rapid adoption into the channel supplying GP and Pharmacy IT systems.

We will continue to examine opportunities to provide best value by working in partnership with the private sector as we pursue the achievement of our key challenges.