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

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Pharmacy bodies say "wait and see" on LPS pilots

Bodies representing pharmacy contractors and owners in England are adopting a "wait and see" policy on local pharmaceutical services contracts ahead of guidance expected from the Department of Health this month.

The National Pharmaceutical Association intends to produce guidance on LPS for its members only, but is waiting for the Department to publish its own document on how LPS is expected to work.

"When the guidance comes out we will write our own resource pack," said Georgina Craig, the NPA's head of professional development. "We want the guidance as soon as possible so that we can get on with helping our members."

In the meantime, the NPA has been meeting doctors and dentists who have been involved with personal medical services and personal dental services contracts, and with health authority and primary care trust representatives to try to find out how other services work and what is expected. The NPA believes that PDS provides a better model for pharmacy than PMS.

"We have not been sitting on our hands," Mrs Craig said. "We have been doing a lot of work around LPS generally about what we can learn from PMS and PDS. There is a lot we can learn from them both from the implementation point of view — what kind of contractor is likely to benefit and how contracts might be designed."

There have also been meetings with the Department of Health. "It is important that the NPA gets involved with shaping LPS at national and local levels and with members," she added.

The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee says that it is happy to advise individual contractors who are wanting to make a head start with applications for LPS pilots but, in general, it says that it is best to wait for full details of what will be involved.

Mike King, head of professional development at the PSNC, said that guidance was still expected from the Department before the end of December. This would lead to around 50 pilot schemes starting towards the end of 2002 which would run for three to four years.

"There are pockets of places where people are anxious to get started on LPS pilots, but most people want to see what would be involved before moving over, particularly since one cannot be in both the national contract and LPS."

He said that following the Government's imposition of a harsh remuneration package, there was suspicion and confusion about where the LPS contract might lead. The current backdrop did not encourage people to think about new ways of working or get involved with local negotiations.

The PSNC has been studying the PMS and PDS pilots to see what might be on offer for pharmacy contractors.

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