The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 270 No 7230 p12-13
4 January 2003

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  Locum pharmacy
  Period-of-treatment fee
  Community pharmacy
  Repeat prescribing
  Wholesaling
  PI insurance
  Genetic research
  PILs
  Public health
  The Profession
  Branch meetings

Letters to the Editor

Period-of-treatment fee

Decision needs to be revisited

From Mr E. A. Goran, MRPharmS

Today, I received a prescription for 120 days' supply of furosemide 20mg. Admittedly, 120 days' worth is unusual in my pharmacy, but 112- and 100-day periods are not infrequent, while 84 days is very much the standard. Currently my net ingredient cost is over £15 per item, roughly 50 per cent above the national average. Given this background, I would suspect that my gross profit margin on NHS dispensing is unlikely to be as high as 10 per cent.

Today, also, I have read of the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee's decision to bow to Department of Health pressure to waive the period-of-treatment fee for the remainder of the financial year. I say "decision", but my understanding from the article is that this was decided by officers within the PSNC without debate or even comment by the rest of the committee. Let it be clear that this fee gives some small degree of recompense to those contractors who through no fault of their own are seriously disadvantaged by the current remuneration system. Thus the PSNC has agreed to further disadvantage one particular section of contractors.

It is unfair that volume increases over and above those predicted and driven largely by the Government's targets are not paid for in full and the PSNC needs to address this issue. However, penalising one particular section of contractors who are already disadvantaged is equally unfair and this decision needs to be revisited.

Elliot Goran
Badger Hill Pharmacy
York

Stabbed in the back

From Mr T. O. Tasker, MRPharmS

I must protest about the removal of the period-of-treatment fee (PJ, 14 December 2002, p835). I have a small, semi-rural pharmacy whose main doctor issues three-month prescriptions for most of his patients. My profit margin is tight given the extra stock I must carry and, since my business is small, there are no generous wholesaler discounts. Because prescriptions are being reduced, there is no 6 per cent rise in prescription numbers, so no fee rise next year. My only compensation is the period-of-treatment fee. Now it is to be cut for the rest of this financial year to settle an overpayment I have never seen. How is this fair?

I feel like I have been stabbed in the back by my own negotiating committee. I might as well close down now if it were not for the welfare of my customers.

Tim Tasker
Ilkley, West Yorkshire

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