The Pharmaceutical Journal Vol 267 No 7167 p415-420
29 September 2001

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Statutory pharmacy representation needed in new NHS, says PSNC

Community pharmacy contractors will still need to be represented by a statutory body after the forthcoming reorganisation of the National Health Service in England, the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee believes.

The PSNC says that the new strategic health authorities should support, and have oversight of, the community pharmacy network. There should be formal mechanisms to ensure that community pharmacists have an effective voice within primary care trusts.

Sue Sharpe, chief executive PSNC, said that when the full details of how the reorganisation will work are published, the PSNC wants to make sure that they will prevent any conflicts of interest within PCTs. These could arise if PCTs were to both commission and provide services.

The PSNC is still considering the future of local pharmaceutical committees. It will be issuing guidance shortly about the LPC elections due to take place in March next year. The PSNC’s regional boundaries have been changed to take into account the new health authority boundaries.

Other matters considered at the PSNC’s September meeting are summarised below.

Remuneration A response to the PSNC’s claim letter submitted in March has been received. The response is considered unsatisfactory and a meeting between the Department of Health and the PSNC was held on 21 September. Mrs Sharpe said that the remuneration offer was based on alterations to the existing global sum. Negotiations on a new pharmacy contract are expected to begin next year.

Generics The PSNC, together with the National Pharmaceutical Association and the Company Chemists Association, has engaged consultants to prepare its response to the Department’s proposals for the supply of generic medicines. A special meeting of the PSNC is to be held in October to consider the response in detail.

Society fees The PSNC is concerned about the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s proposals to increase both its retention and premises fees (PJ, 11 August, p209). It is awaiting a response to a letter to the Society asking for information to justify the increases.

Fraud rewards Two new schemes are to be introduced by the Department to reward community pharmacies for help in preventing fraud. Rewards of £50 will be available for not dispensing prescriptions where fraud was involved and for providing valuable information for use in fraud investigations.

Vice-chairman Hemant Patel has been elected vice-chairman of the PSNC in succession to Steven Williams.

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