The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 268 No 7188 p311-320
9 March 2002

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New contract is our most important issue, PSNC chairman tells guests

Developing a new national contract for community pharmacy is the most important issue facing the profession, Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee chairman Barry Andrews told local pharmaceutical committee representatives and their guests at the PSNC dinner in London on 4 March.

"It is important because it provides us — Government and profession — with an opportunity to redefine the community pharmaceutical service and shape it to the needs and expectations of patients."

He explained that the new contract must set out in clear terms the services that all patients will be entitled to access to community pharmacies. These aspects are best placed in a national contract rather than the myriad of local pharmaceutical services contracts, each of which may differ in important ways. "No one wants to see postcode pharmacy. This is a risk if we get the balance between the national contract and LPS wrong. We see LPS as a good way of ensuring that local innovation is encouraged and specific local needs are catered for."

The new national contract is also important because the existing contract has long outlived its usefulness, Mr Andrews said. "If prescription volumes continue to increase, some 6 per cent or more per annum at present, the global sum will need to be increased by more than that to result in an increase in the fee that community pharmacists receive when they dispense."

Discussions about a new national contract, which should incorporate the main planks of the NHS pharmaceutical service for the future, should begin as soon as possible. The contract pavde the way for the introduction of LPS. It should not penalise community pharmacists for working harder and more efficiently so it should incentivise pharmacists, and encourage and reward high quality services. The contract should deliver the best services for patients.

The crisis of confidence was brought about by a coincidence of factors, not simply the fee cut just before Christmas, explained Mr Andrews. There are the questions surrounding the reimbursement of generic medicines and the review by the Office of Fair Training into the regulations governing the location of community pharmacies.

"Community pharmacists are keen to realise their professional potential as part of the NHS primary care team but we need positive signs from policymakers to help make that happen," Mr Andrews emphasised. "We strongly believe that the executive committee of each PCT should include a community pharmacist. Where it does happen already, where community pharmacists do have that kind of input, the benefits are there for all to see."