Supervision, e-commerce and the election of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society's President were among the topics covered by a panel discussion at the Young Pharmacists Group conference. The meeting, held in London on November 27 and 28 alongside the Pharmacy Live exhibition, also heard presentations on remuneration and providing new pharmaceutical services
The future for pharmacy lay in service provision rather than "product shifting" Dr MANDEEP MUDHAR (professional services development manager, AAH Pharmaceuticals) told the conference.
Dr Mudhar said that if pharmacists concentrated on service provision then they would have access to new sources of income, would become gatekeepers to health, face competition from nurses ("which is not tough") and have interaction with patients.
However, if they concentrated on shifting products then they would have to deal with the effects of resale price maintenance on over-the-counter medicines ("which will go within a year"), would be seen as poor retailers because of their lack of training in this area, face competition from supermarkets ("you cannot beat them") and have only patient packs to dispense ("are pharmacists needed for this?").
Pharmacists who were setting out to provide new professional services had to make sure that these fell within the aims of local primary care groups or health action zones. There was no point in setting up services which did not match up to these aims.
The services had to follow recognised protocols, so as not to upset other primary care professionals, and to be provided from a suitable environment, using recognised and approved technology and go with, not against, other health care professionals.
Finally, the services had to be economically viable.
Mr GARETH McCAGUE (professional development manager, Lloyds Pharmacy) said that any services provided had to encompass "four Ps": professional, practical, profitable and preferable.
Professional meant falling within the remit of the Code of Ethics. There also had to be a focus on outcomes so as to make a difference to patient health.
Practical meant the use of protocols and, importantly, written standard operating procedures (SOPs), which told other people what was being done. Without SOPs there was no professional service, he said. Time, and a suitable environment, had to be available to provide the services.
Profitability covered a strategy for providing the services, the costs of materials and marketing and the important cost of a pharmacist's time.
The services had to be preferable, wanted and used by patients and customers (who had different approaches to such services) and be acceptable to primary care groups and watchdogs such as Which? magazine. It was critical that any service offered could be reproduced for all patients and from different premises, if applicable.
The key elements of a professional service, he believed, were the attitude and expertise of the provider (which was what was being sold), the outcomes which were achieved and, increasingly important, measures of clinical governance.
A new model of pharmaceutical service contracts being placed with individual pharmacists rather than pharmacy premises was proposed as a personal idea to the conference by Mr KAROL PAZIK, a Young Pharmacists Group member.
|  Karol Pazik: emphasis shifted from products to services |
Patients would be registered with pharmacies under this model and the proprietor would receive income from capitation fees and commercial sales, some of which could be passed on to the PSC as bonuses. The PSC would receive funding directly from the health authority.
Mr Pazik said that the advantages of his model were that with no dispensing fee the emphasis was shifted from the product to the services provided and that it would empower and raise the profile of the pharmacist, protecting professional independence.
Earlier, Mr GODFREY HORRIDGE (financial executive, Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee) had explained that the current system of remuneration for pharmacy contractors was felt to be practical, simple to understand and operate, contained incentives to provide better services (which would lead to increased prescription numbers), and was overwhelmingly supported by contractors, although they all agreed that the existing global sum needed to be substantially increased.
The PSNC was constantly looking for ways to develop new roles which would bring in new funding.