From Mr P. B. Modasia, MRPharmS
SIR,—The open letter to the Secretary of State for Health (PJ, September 4, p361) has served to awaken the profession from the never ending false promises and empty words that seem to emanate from the Department of Health. The recent imposition of a pay settlement, lack of representation on the primary care groups and on the so-called new initiatives totally ignores the powerful and comprehensive case for recognition and proper funding of community pharmacy. All these factors seem to crystallise the discriminatory track record of this and previous governments towards the pharmacy profession.
One point that defies logic concerns the savings made by prudent purchasing by pharmacy contractors which is clawed back and ends up in the Treasury's or the primary care groups' coffers, eg, £600,000 discount clawback given to Merton, Sutton and Wandsworth PCGs for patient care. Robbing Peter to pay Paul! Any budgetary savings by the general practitioner is looked upon favourably by the DoH and almost half of this saving is retained by the GP practice for further so-called investment in the surgery premises, eg, £41,000 for installation of air conditioning for a medical centre. There are no such funds or incentives to improve pharmacy premises.
Community pharmacists have been virtually ignored in the recent plethora of White Papers and Health Service circulars that seem to be designing the new National Health Service. Some PCGs will become PCTs from April 1, 2000, and it looks likely that pharmacists will not be invited on to the PCT boards. GP dominated PCGs are starting to develop pharmaceutical strategies with very little involvement of the community pharmacist and inevitably these new strategies seem to be concerned with pharmaceutical budgetary control rather than focusing on the health care of patients.
To give credit to our health authority, it has responded to positive ideas from the local pharmaceutical committee by investing in local community pharmacies and is starting to work in partnership with the LPC for the benefit of the HA patients. If a lesson needs to be learnt by Mr Dobson and the NHS Executive it is that community pharmacy is a reservoir of untapped potential and only proper funding and recognition of pharmacists' skills will lead to a realisation of benefits for improving the health of the nation. Mr Dobson and his officials must realise that community pharmacists are available without appointment and have acted as unrecognised, unpaid gatekeepers to the NHS well before the idea of the expensive NHS Direct was conceived.
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society, the National Pharmaceutical Association and the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee have all demonstrated on numerous occasions the value of pharmacists in the nation's health care, especially in the management of repeat prescribed medicines, the management of chronic conditions, management of common ailments and the promotion and support of healthy lifestyles. In the light of this, the profession awaits the publication of the DoH strategy for community pharmacy in the NHS.
Paresh Modasia
Chairman, Merton, Sutton and Wandsworth Local Pharmaceutical Committee