The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 270 No 7234 p139
1 February 2003

This article
Reprint
Photocopy

News summary

Related websites
OFT report, news & related links (more)

Concerns expressed about rural dispensing after deregulation

Both pharmacists and dispensing doctors have expressed concerns that the Office of Fair Trading proposal to deregulate pharmacy contracts has failed to clarify the position regarding dispensing in rural areas.

As well as recommending that control of entry for new pharmacies should be abolished (PJ, 25 January, p103), the OFT report also says that the prejudice test, which allows dispensing doctors in England and Wales to object to the granting of a pharmacy contract in their area, "should fall away together with the regulations establishing the controlled areas to which the test applies" [Para 5.8]. In Scotland, doctor dispensing is undertaken at the request of local health boards, not the doctors.

Representatives of pharmacy contractors and dispensing doctors have spent the past few years reaching an agreement over rural dispensing. And before the OFT announced its inquiry, the agreement had been turned into a set of, as yet unpublished, draft regulations. Mike King, assistant secretary at the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee told The Journal that progress on the regulations had slowed down as the OFT report approached publication. "We need to see how the recommendation of the OFT report is taken forward before we can see how our agreement progresses," Mr King said.

Immediately before the publication of its report on 17 January, the OFT held a briefing for stakeholders consulted during the inquiry. The Journal understands that a large part of this briefing was taken up by questions aimed at trying to clarify the doctor dispensing issue. In a report published on the Dispensing Doctors Association (DDA) website, Dr David Barker, a member of the DDA board, says: "At the meeting I was unsure whether to be incandescent with rage at deregulation or totally euphoric at the huge opportunities it will give doctors to co-locate pharmacies at their surgeries. The view of the pharmacists present was that the latter view was more likely and that there would be a rush of GPs moving to establish their own pharmacies. The National Pharmaceutical Association appeared particularly unhappy, not without cause."

NPA chief executive John D'Arcy told The Journal that in his view the OFT appeared to see dispensing doctors "as the last resort", similar to the Scottish model. "In that case, what is to happen to the existing 4,000 or so dispensing doctors?"

Mr King said that the situation was "a double-edged sword — the implications need thinking through". The PSNC is seeking an urgent meeting with doctors' representatives.