The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 269 No 7219 p513
12 October 2002

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Repeat dispensing pathfinder sites announced; remuneration not agreed

Thirty proposed pathfinder sites for pharmacy-based National Health Service repeat dispensing have been named by the Department of Health. However, the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee is still advising contractors not to make any binding commitments because there is not yet enough money on the table to pay for a proper, professional, service.

David Lammy, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health who has responsibility for pharmacy, said that he was pleased to announce the locations although regulations were still to be put in place and negotiations were ongoing with the PSNC. The Department of Health intends to have NHS repeat dispensing throughout England by 2004.

Sue Sharpe, chief executive of the PSNC, has repeated her warning to pharmacy contractors not to sign up for a new service without knowing what they are getting into. "The Department is currently offering a flat-rate fee per pharmacy which amounts to no more than 5p per patient per month on top of the standard dispensing fee," she said. "I am concerned that they are developing a service right from the start that does not operate at an acceptable professional level. It is a real worry that the Department's perception seems to be of a minimalist service. We do not believe that this meets the Government's quality agenda and will not be acceptable to patients or to the profession."

It seems that the Department's view is that pharmacists' level of input will amount to little more than filing and retrieving prescriptions and referring patients back to the prescriber if they have any queries or problems with their treatment.

"If we do not develop a tolerable level of professional input right from the start then we do nothing to enhance the quality of service to patients," Mrs Sharpe said. "Pharmacists will be taking on a very significant level of responsibility." The PSNC is continuing to encourage pharmacists to make expressions of interest in providing a repeat dispensing service.

Mrs Sharpe gave this stark warning: "If pharmacists accept this role when the Government has not offered proper funding, they are signing themselves up for an additional level of service equivalent to the introduction of monitored dosage systems, on which many nursing homes are now dependent, and for which there has never been any funding provided. If pharmacists agree to a payment which is not enough at the outset, then that is the point from which we will have to negotiate increases in the future."