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The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 270 No 7237 p257
22 February 2003

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OFT report, news & related links (more)

Put stress on patients' interests in any reponses to OFT report, MP advises

Patients' interests in the consequences of pharmacy deregulation should be stressed above pharmacists' interests, a Member of Parliament advises.

James Grey, Conservative MP for North Wiltshire, recently met a group of local pharmacists to discuss the Office of Fair Trading report. Ray Jephson, of Wroughton Health Centre Pharmacy, Swindon, told The Journal that the group made a presentation on the report and its possible effects on pharmacy. "Mr Grey stressed that we would get on better if we came at the issue from the patient's point of view, rather than the pharmacist's," Mr Jephson explained.

The MP worked through the points made by the pharmacists and brought out a list of additional services that, in general, are provided by most independent community pharmacies and which patients risked losing. These include:

• A wide range of non-prescription medicines

• Oxygen delivery

• Needle and syringe exchange

• Supervised methadone consumption

• Palliative care supplies

• Collection and delivery services

• Medicines management

• Monitored dosage systems

• Counselling on minor ailments

• Personal service

Mr Grey also advised that face-to-face meetings with MPs are the best way to get messages across to them. Meanwhile, other pharmacists and pharmacy organisations across Britain have been active in lobbying politicians and gaining support from their customers (see Panel below).

Pharmacists take action on the OFT report against deregulation

Bradford Bradford Local Pharmaceutical Committee has been winning support from the public as it campaigns to convince Members of Parliament to oppose pharmacy deregulation. LPC chairman James Currie has already taken a petition to his MP. He has also given out stamped addressed envelopes to patients so that they can write to the MP about the matter themselves. He gained over 1,800 signatures for his petition in just two weeks and gave out more than 200 envelopes in one week at a cost of just over £50.

Hertfordshire UniChem is hosting a meeting on 26 February for Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire LPC for pharmacists to hear what they can do to resist the Office of Fair Trading's call for deregulation. Speakers include John D'Arcy, National Pharmaceutical Association chief executive, and UniChem director Martyn Ward.

Sheffield Martin Bennett, secretary of Sheffield LPC, has already written to the six Sheffield MPs and to the chief executives of Sheffield's PCTs. He said: "There is no doubt that if the entry regulations disappear then the ability of PCTs to plan a comprehensive range of services to localities for delivery via community pharmacies will be severely curtailed." Mr Bennett's expectation is that deregulation will initially lead to a 10 to 15 per cent increase in pharmacy numbers but, in the longer term, numbers will fall by 15 to 20 per cent over five to 10 years with socially disadvantaged areas losing out.

Clive Betts, Labour MP for Sheffield Attercliffe, has already written to David Lammy, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health who is responsible for pharmacy in England. Mr Betts wrote: "In my view the OFT always approaches these matters from a very strict competition and deregulation point of view and does not necessarily give all the practical considerations to the need to provide comprehensive cover for all areas in what effectively is a very close adjunct to an important public sector service."

Sutton, Merton and Wandsworth Sutton, Merton and Wandsworth LPC is to co-ordinate the use of posters prepared by the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee and the National Pharmaceutical Association, along with a poster of their own, leaflets and petition forms supplied by the NPA. There will also be preprinted postcards that patients can be asked to send to local MPs.

NPA The NPA is writing to patient support groups seeking their support in opposing pharmacy deregulation. The association is also writing to groups whose concerns are more neighbourhood- than health-oriented to see if they are willing to join the campaign to support pharmacies as key local businesses.

Scotland Pharmacists in Scotland have been asked to find five people each who will write to Scottish politicians to tell them why pharmacy contract controls should be retained. Contractors have also been asked by the Scottish Pharmaceutical General Council to consider asking other businesses in their area to write about the possible implications for local high streets if pharmacies close.

Wales The Royal Pharmaceutical Society's Welsh Executive has written to Welsh Health Minister Jane Hutt to express its views on pharmacy deregulation.