PJ Online | News: Pharmacies to end emergency cover

The Pharmaceutical Journal Vol 267 No 7178 p839-846
15 December 2001

Pharmacies to end emergency cover

Three community pharmacists in Bishop Auckland, County Durham, have withdrawn from local arrangements for out-of-hours emergency cover in protest at this year's remuneration imposition.

Patricia King, superintendent pharmacist of M & M (Chemists) Ltd, said that their withdrawal had no effect on local rota arrangements, but meant that they were not available to dispense urgent prescriptions outside the company's contracted hours. M & M Chemists has two pharmacies in the town.

In a letter to County Durham and Darlington Health Authority's primary care contracts manager, Ms King and her colleagues Stewart Cant and David Robson said that the imposed 10 per cent reduction in the dispensing fee was disgraceful and insulting.

They said that to reduce the fee year after year without notice and to backdate the changes made planning expenditure difficult. The amount involved for the company equated to a technician's salary.

They said that they would be happy to continue providing out-of-hours cover if an independent pay inquiry was set in place and an agreed settlement formulated.

Alan Phillips, secretary of Durham Local Pharmaceutical Committee said that there had been a trend over recent years for pharmacies to seek reductions in their contracted opening hours. Although pharmacy numbers were not falling, reductions in hours were affecting the level of pharmacy services.

"They are losing goodwill all round," he said. "In this part of the world most pharmacies are dispensing pharmacies, their raison-d'être is to do prescriptions rather than to sell medicines or toiletries. You can't afford to lose pharmacies here; the vast majority are serving isolated communities."

A health authority spokeswoman said: "While we acknowledge that the emergency rota for prescriptions has been helpful, we now have urgent care centres which can provide treatment in an emergency."