The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 268 No 7190 p397-401
23 March 2002

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Letters to the Editor

Remuneration

Contractors are not receiving adequate remuneration

From Mr J. King, MRPharmS

In my opinion, the concluding paragraph of your editorial "Is postcode pharmacy such a bad thing?" (PJ, 9 March, p310) suggests that some pharmacists are complacent and want to see extra money for carrying out their current responsibilities without giving any more in return. The inference is that they require the extra money for maintaining the status quo. Is it not clear, however, that pharmacists are not adequately remunerated at the present time?

I believe that few people would dispute that we need to reward initiative and innovation and to see good practice develop at a fast pace. The remuneration for taking on new tasks should come from new money and not from a redistribution of the global sum. Pharmacists are already under considerable pressure with their day-to-day workloads and additional resources are required.

I would cite the Broad Spectrum article by Alan Smith (PJ, 2 March, p284), where he points out that dramatic way in which the gross profit of contractors has fallen since 1989/90. Contractors are clearly now not receiving adequate remuneration and this must be addressed.

The pharmacist's core work still remains dispensing and it always will. That is not to say that pharmacists should be Luddites and not look for expansion of their role. However, the national contract must be central to any negotiations and we must not allow the Government to divide and rule in order to concentrate its effort into the add-on services as a pretext for promoting local initiatives. Naturally we should seek to co-operate in the expanded role but there should be a proper remuneration system in place for this.

Which other health workers would be content to see their work load increase year on year while merely receiving inflationary increases? Productivity and efficiency has clearly not been rewarded and, although I cannot quote the exact figures, I believe the statistics speak for themselves. These clearly demonstrate that the pharmaceutical service gives the Government excellent value for money.

The emphasis of your editorial was misplaced and would appear not to recognise the inadequacy of the current remuneration system at its basic core. Destroying the national contract to incentivise local initiatives would be totally wrong in strategic terms. I wish Sue Sharpe and Barry Andrews every success in their initiatives and congratulate them on their steadfast resolve.

Joseph King
Kingchem Ltd
Norwich

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