The Pharmaceutical Journal Vol 267 No 7160 p191-193
11 August 2001

This page
Reprint
Photocopy

  The new NHS
  NHS Direct
  Pet medicines
  The Profession
  Primary care pharmacy
  Broken bulk rules
  Topical antihistamines
  The future
  Drug administration
  The Journal

Broken bulk rules

Losses to the pharmacist

From Mr M. D. Williams, MRPharmS

Smith & Nephew Healthcare Ltd has recently mailed all community pharmacies informing them that, as of 1 March, the size of their OpSite Flexigrid film dressing changed from 12cm x 10cm to 12cm x 12cm. The notice stated that the old size is no longer reimbursable, and that if a pharmacist were to dispense the old size they would “short change the nurse, the patient and the NHS”. On checking my stock of dressings, I discovered five 10cm x 12cm dressings in a split box of 10. Thanks to the absurdity of the broken bulk rules regarding dressings (ie, the fact that one cannot claim broken bulk on dressings), this represents a net cost loss to me of £9.43.

On the same day as the notice from S&N arrived, I received a prescription from a GP, which had been requested by a district nurse, for 40 OpSite IV 3000 dressings. These are only available in boxes of 50 at a cost of £56.50. Again, because broken bulk is not allowed to be claimed on this item, dispensing this prescription would impose a loss to the pharmacist of £11.30.

Perhaps the next time Smith & Nephew composes a sentence including the words “pharmacist”, “short change” and “the NHS”, it could rearrange them to reflect the reality of the situation.

Mike Williams
Solihull,
West Midlands

Back to Top

Previous Topic (Primary care pharmacy)
Next Topic (Topical antihistamines)
Send your letter to The Editor