The Pharmaceutical Journal Vol 267 No 7176 p767-773
1 December 2001

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Minister gets cool reception at NPA triennial dinner

Hazel Blears, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health, was given a cool reception when she spoke to the National Pharmaceutical Association's triennial chairman's dinner held earlier this week. A number of NPA members expressed their disappointment at the latest blow to community pharmacy — in the form of the decimation of the dispensing fee and small increase in the global sum (PJ 24 November, p733) — by refusing to applaud her.

Chairman of the NPA board, Gerald Alexander, told the Minister: "It is my duty to tell you that community pharmacy has reached the point of financial crisis. The loss of RPM, the OFT study into control of entry and the Department of Health generics report all have major implications not only for continued pharmacy sustainability but for the pharmacy network itself and the services we provide. Many pharmacies are seriously considering whether they have a viable future."

He warned Mrs Blears: "For community pharmacy to be part of a modern NHS, it is essential that we have a modern remuneration system. The fact is that after the punitive fee reduction recently imposed there is no slack left in the system. So while I can understand the Government's wish in implementing the pharmacy programme to resource new services through a redistribution of the global sum, there is little, if any, room for manoeuvre."

Acknowledging community pharmacists' concerns, the Minister said: "I want to see a system that can adapt and look to the future, and I accept that the change needs to be structured and managed so that it gives people some certainty, a real idea of the direction of travel and the timescale we hope to achieve."

Ms Blears said that she was restricted by the rules of the current system. "We have to move on from a system that is paying simply for volume and items of service and look at a way we can remunerate people for quality and for involvement in patient care. We have to make sure the remuneration system lines up with that agenda."

She emphasised that any new system had to be robust for up to 30 years and should offer stability to maintain the network of community pharmacies, to which the Government was committed.

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