PJ Online: News

The Pharmaceutical Journal Vol 266 No 7149 p701-702
May 26, 2001

News summary

Vets should write prescriptions, says review Veterinary surgeons should normally provide animal owners with a written prescription, an independent review of veterinary dispensing has recommended...[more]

Police launch National Association of Chemist Inspection Officers A new organisation, launched to co-ordinate the work of police officers involved in chemist inspection duties in relation to Controlled Drugs, staged its first national seminar at West Mercia Constabulary Headquarters this month...[more]

Smoking survey responses wanted Pharmacists who received questionnaires for the European “Pharmacists against smoking” survey have been asked by the the National Pharmaceutical Association to return their questionnaires...[more]

Unichem links with Londis Unichem has joined forces with Londis to develop a convenience store trading format for community pharmacy...[more]

European Union signs deal with Japan The European Union and Japan have signed a mutual recognition agreement, where both sides agree to accept the technical standards for a limited range of products, including pharmaceuticals...[more]

Smaller painkiller packs reduce deaths Legislation restricting pack sizes of paracetamol and salicylates sold over the counter has had substantial benefits in terms of reducing mortality and morbidity associated with self-poisoning, another study has shown...[more]

Prescribing is not yet a priority for PCGs Prescribing might not be as high a priority for primary care groups (PCGs) as was originally thought...[more]

Get involved in medicines management, says Wally Dove Community pharmacists must seek to be involved with the Department of Health's medicines management pilot projects; they should not wait for the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee's pilot to start...[more]

Manifestos promise more staff for NHS Increased recruitment of doctors, nurses and other National Health Service staff is promised by the Labour and Liberal Democrat parties in their election manifestos. Manifesto summaries are included below...[more]

Pharmacy organisations send manifestos for use by branches The Royal Pharmaceutical Society and the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee have sent out manifestos detailing the services provided by pharmacists and their aspirations for the future...[more]

News in brief

New SPGC chairman The Scottish Pharmaceutical General Council has a new chairman, Frank Owens. Mr Owens is a community pharmacist from Bonnybridge, Falkirk. The new vice-chairman is Ron Shiels from Inverness.

Moss wins homes contracts Moss Pharmacy has won two contracts to supply pharmaceutical services to care homes in the Tees Health Authority area. Two pharmacists will make 24 visits to the homes during a year to give advice on the ordering, storage and administration of medicines. They will also provide relevant staff training.

Gehe buys Irish chain Gehe AG has acquired Crowley's Pharmacies, a chain of nine pharmacies in the Republic of Ireland. Gehe now has pharmacies in six European countries. It described its acquisition as “our first step into the Irish market”.

Pharmacists stand in general election Three pharmacists have requested funding from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society's Parliamentary Fund to help them stand for election to Parliament. They are Sandra Gidley, who is standing for the Liberal Democrats in Romsey, Mike Hadley, Liberal Democrats in Worcestershire West, and Ashwin Tanna, UK Independence Party, Brent East.

Napp gets relief on MST decision Napp Pharmaceuticals has been given temporary relief by the Competition Commission Appeals Tribunal from the Office of Fair Trading's order that it should cut the price of its sustained release morphine (MST Continus) products pending the company's appeal against the decision (PJ, April 7, p449).

Vets should write prescriptions, says review

Veterinary surgeons should normally provide animal owners with a written prescription, an independent review of veterinary dispensing has recommended. The review has also recommended changes to the classification of prescription only medicines for animals.

The review says that after a diagnosis and treatment decision has been made a written prescription should be provided, either at no charge or for a fee which the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons suggests should be no more than £2.50. Prescriptions could be dispensed by veterinary surgeons, pharmacists or, for some medicines, agricultural merchants. This would not apply to medicines given or used during surgery.

Veterinary practices which have dispensaries are recommended to review their working practices so as to reduce costs. The independent review says that there is a lack of transparency in the prices paid for animal medicines and many veterinarians are unaware of the cost of their dispensing services. This leads to avoidably high costs.

The report's other main recommendation is that prescription only medicines should be reclassified into three subgroups:

POM(A) Medicines administered only by veterinary surgeons or under their direct supervision
POM(B) Medicines sold or dispensed by veterinary surgeons after a clinical examination of the animal, or sold or dispensed by a pharmacy on prescription
POM(C) Medicines sold or supplied by veterinarians, pharmacists or competent agricultural merchants. A clinical examination of the animal would not be necessary. This would replace the existing pharmacy and merchants list (PML) category

Parallel importing of veterinary medicines from the European Union should be allowed, the review says, as well as the use of generic medicines developed for use in humans.

In its evidence to the review, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society noted that specialised veterinary pharmacies were underdeveloped because there was currently little incentive for them. Individual pharmacists called for a number of products for pets to be moved to the pharmacy category.

The report, which is to be considered by Ministers, can be found in the publications section of the Veterinary Medicines Directorate's website (www.vmd.gov.uk).

The existing regulations setting the classification of veterinary medicines and their amendments have been consolidated into two new statutory instruments, the Medicines (Veterinary Drugs) (General Sale List) Order 2001, SI 2001, No 1645, ISBN 0-1-1029464-5 and the Medicines (Veterinary Drugs) (Prescription Only) Order 2001, SI 2001, No 1646, ISBN 0-11-029465-3.

Police launch National Association of Chemist Inspection Officers

A new organisation, launched to co-ordinate the work of police officers involved in chemist inspection duties in relation to Controlled Drugs, staged its first national seminar at West Mercia Constabulary Headquarters this month.

The seminar attracted representatives of 43 forces, including those for Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Participants also attended from the Home Office drugs inspectorate, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society and the Department of Health in Northern Ireland.

The association is about to embark on the establishment of its own section on the European Police Internet (EpiCentre) which can be used securely by all police personnel and will act as a notice board to post details of current trends and problems, and of association activities.

Smoking survey responses wanted

Pharmacists who received questionnaires for the European “Pharmacists against smoking” survey have been asked by the the National Pharmaceutical Association to return their questionnaires (PJ, April 14, p492).

A sample of British pharmacists were sent a questionnaire which aims to determine their attitudes to smoking and their role in smoking cessation. So far the response rate has been 25.3 per cent, which is poor compared to most other European countries. The response rate in Finland is 72 per cent.

Colette McCreedy, NPA director of pharmacy practice, said: “I urge pharmacists to find a few minutes to complete their questionnaires so that the UK can make a full contribution to this European initiative.”

Only Portugal, France, Belgium and Germany have lower response rates than Britain.

Unichem links with Londis

Unichem has joined forces with Londis to develop a convenience store trading format for community pharmacy.

The companies are working together on a fascia and in-store format to suit pharmacy/convenience store operations, backed by an appropriate stock inventory to encourage impulse buying.

The commercial director for Londis, Denise Buller, said: “Consumers expect a variety of products and services under one roof so it makes sense to look at complementary areas and merge the two concepts of pharmacy and convenience store, which both enjoy strong community values.”

European Union signs deal with Japan

The European Union and Japan have signed a mutual recognition agreement, where both sides agree to accept the technical standards for a limited range of products, including pharmaceuticals.

The deal will make it easier for manufacturers to trade between the EU and Japan because they will not be forced to prove in the importing country whether or not their technical and safety standards meet those required locally. Under the agreement, an exporter has the authority to test and certify products against the regulatory requirements of the importing country before exporting. Where countries require mandatory third-party certification of specific products, each importing party agrees to recognise the tests, certificates and approvals issued by agreed conformity assessment bodies of the exporting country.

Smaller painkiller packs reduce deaths

Legislation restricting pack sizes of paracetamol and salicylates sold over the counter has had substantial benefits in terms of reducing mortality and morbidity associated with self-poisoning, another study has shown (BMJ, May 19, p1203).

Professor Keith Hawton, of Warneford Hospital, Oxford, and colleagues conducted a prospective study to look at the effects of the legislation on suicidal behaviour in the United Kingdom.

They found that after the introduction of the legislation in September 1998, the number of deaths from paracetamol poisoning fell by 21 per cent. The rate of non-fatal self-poisoning with paracetamol decreased by 11 per cent and the number of deaths from salicylate poisoning decreased by 48 per cent.

In addition, they found that the proportion of overdoses in which more than 32 tablets were taken decreased for both paracetamol (by 17 per cent) and salicylates (by 34 per cent).

The researchers say that the evidence for a causal relationship between the change in legislation and the reductions in mortality and morbidity is strong. They conclude that a smaller pack size for pharmacy sales, such as the 8g (16 tablet) limit in France, might have greater impact on reducing self-poisoning with analgesics.

An earlier study into the effects of pack size restrictions on paracetamol overdose showed similar results (see PJ, October 21, 2000, p597).

Prescribing is not yet a priority for PCGs

Prescribing might not be as high a priority for primary care groups (PCGs) as was originally thought. Many are still trying to finalise their organisational structures, according to researchers from the University of Birmingham.

Managing the costs of prescribing had been highlighted as a particular focus in the early days of PCGs, said Dr Sheila Greenfield, a senior lecturer in the department of primary care and general practice, at the regional scientific meeting of the United Kingdom Drug Utilisation Group in Birmingham on May 18.

However, a survey of 12 PCGs in Birmingham had shown that their main preoccupation was setting up the organisation and making it work.

“Only the first steps have been taken in dealing with prescribing,” she said.

Some of the questions used by Dr Greenfield in the survey asked whether priorities for the PCG had been identified, what the role of the board was in prescribing and what sources of prescribing advice were used.

Overall, the PCG staff who had replied had placed prescribing fourth on their list of priorities, although 75 per cent had said that it was a priority for the future. Prescribing issues had been considered, but not the development of prescribing policy. Organisational issues had come above prescribing in the list, she commented.

Most of the PCGs used prescribing advisers and had developed a prescribing subgroup, Dr Greenfield said. The prescribing targets that had most commonly been set included increasing generic prescribing, reducing the use of antibiotics and proton-pump inhibitors and increasing the taking of aspirin by patients with coronary heart disease.

Dr Greenfield commented that priorities might change now that national service frameworks had been issued.

Get involved in medicines management, says Wally Dove

Community pharmacists must seek to be involved with the Department of Health's medicines management pilot projects; they should not wait for the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee's pilot to start.

So said Wally Dove, the PSNC chairman, following the committee's May meeting. “They've really got to get involved,” Mr Dove said. “They won't get a second chance.”

The comments were made in the light of knowledge that the 25 pilot sites for the Department's £1.9m medicines management project had been selected by the National Prescribing Centre (PJ, March 24, p378). The identity of the sites is not being revealed until after the general election.

Other matters raised at the PSNC meeting are reported below.

Remuneration The National Health Service Executive says that there is no chance of a remuneration offer being made until after the election. The PSNC will then seek an urgent meeting with the Department. Mr Dove said that he thought that the Department would want to discuss remuneration increases, a new pharmacy contract and any potential addition to the global sum to make up for the abolition of resale price maintenance all together. It was noted that nurses and general practitioners had already accepted increases of 3.7 per cent and 3.9 per cent respectively for the current financial year.

RPM The impact of the loss of RPM is to be raised with the Government as soon as possible. The PSNC view is that Ministers need to provide the support and resources that community pharmacists need in order to bring Government ideas about pharmaceutical services to fruition.

The election Local pharmaceutical committees have been sent guidance on issues to raise with Parliamentary candidates. The PSNC hopes that all candidates will be contacted (see p702).

Health Act roadshows A series of roadshows is to inform local pharmaceutical committees about areas of the Health and Social Care Act 2001 that are relevant to community pharmacy.

Manifestos promise more staff for NHS

Increased recruitment of doctors, nurses and other National Health Service staff is promised by the Labour and Liberal Democrat parties in their election manifestos. The Conservatives do not give any specific pledge on staff numbers but would match Labour's plans for spending on the NHS.

Labour's manifesto, “Ambitions for Britain”, repeats many of the promises made in the NHS plan which was launched last year. Pharmacy is not specifically mentioned. The commitment to extra doctors and nurses is one of five specific pledges made by Labour on cards being handed out by its candidates.

The Conservative manifesto, “Time for common sense”, offers few specific pledges on money or dates for action on the NHS but says that a Tory government would “stop politicians from interfering in clinical decisions and in the running of hospitals”.

The Liberal Democrats manifesto, “Freedom, justice, honesty”, seeks to outbid Labour with commitments to greater numbers of new staff and facilities. Pharmacies would offer more diagnostic testing and a Pharmaceuticals Agency would be established to purchase drugs for the NHS.

Some of the parties' main pledges are set out below.

Extra resources An additional 10,000 doctors and 20,000 nurses by 2005. Provide 7,000 more hospital beds. United Kingdom health spending to reach European Union average over time.

Pharmaceuticals Health authorities and trusts will be directed to fund drugs and treatments recommended by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence.

Other policies Booked hospital appointments by 2005. University of the NHS to train staff. Core curriculum for all health professionals. Special surgical units run by NHS or private sector.

Extra resources Training places for 4,600 doctors, 27,500 nurses and midwives and 10,250 professionals allied to medicine. Provide 10,000 more hospital beds over five years.

Pharmaceuticals Establish a Pharmaceuticals Agency to purchase for the NHS. Savings to be used to reduce and then scrap prescription charges.

Other policies Move Minister for Public Health to Cabinet Office from Department of Health. Make more diagnostic tests available through GPs and pharmacies. Introduce no-fault compensation for medical negligence.

Extra resources Will match Labour plans for NHS spending but no specific commitment to extra staff.

Pharmaceuticals Establish central exceptional medicines fund to pay for expensive new medicines.

Other policies Patient's guarantee to give maximum waiting times in cardiac and cancer services. Increase state funding for hospices. Tax breaks for private medical insurance.

Pharmacy organisations send manifestos for use by branches

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society and the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee have sent out manifestos detailing the services provided by pharmacists and their aspirations for the future. The documents have been sent to local branches and local pharmaceutical committees for distribution to parliamentary candidates in each constituency.

The Society's manifesto, which is also available in Welsh, highlights challenges being faced by the National Health Service in relation to medicines, including preventable medicine-related hospital admissions, prescribed medicines which are either unused or not taken as intended, polypharmacy in the elderly, and unequal access to services.

The document suggests that pharmacists can help through repeat medication services, managing minor illnesses, pharmacist prescribing and supporting other health care professionals.

The PSNC's document stresses the accessibility of community pharmacies and the services already provided through them. It suggests that in the future pharmacists could do more through medicines management, pharmacist prescribing and a greater involvement in preventative health care. The PSNC also suggests that when LPCs are writing to candidates they should raise the topic of resale price maintenance and the need for proper resourcing of community pharmacy following its loss.