The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 271 No 7258 p72
19 July 2003

This article
Reprint
Photocopy

Let us have a fair deal

As yet, community pharmacists have not raised huge objections to the outline of the new contract about which the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee is currently consulting interested parties. And it seems unlikely that they will. There is nothing particularly contentious about the tiered contract that is being proposed: the essential services tier, the enhanced services tier (which in due course may be absorbed into the essential services tier) and the pinnacle of service provision — the additional services tier (p77).

Community pharmacists have known that the days of the current dispensing contract were numbered and that things were likely to change with the advent of medicines management services, local pharmaceutical services contracts and repeat dispensing pilots, to name but a few recent initiatives.

The big question remains to be answered — what will pharmacists be paid for providing these services?

Sue Sharpe, chief executive of the PSNC, is quoted as saying that talks with the Department of Health over funding will not begin until the contract details are finalised (p78). Fair enough. But, realistically, community pharmacists are not going to be fully engaged by the contract talks until they know what sort of money is on the table. They cannot be expected to accept the tiers, except in principle, until they know what effort will be involved to provide enhanced services and whether they will be adequately rewarded for that effort.

Another critical question is how easy it will be to climb up the tiers. Who is going to pay for upgrading services and improving IT links with the National Health Service if, say, a primary care trust wants pharmacists to take on a particular additional service in its area? On top of all that, the implications of the Government response to the Office of Fair Trading report on control of entry — the full impact of which may take years to be felt — and how generic drugs are to be reimbursed in the future will all have to go into the pot.

Most community pharmacists are more interested in providing services for patients and having a reasonable income than in accumulating great riches. The Government should make every effort to ensure that whatever deal is struck with the profession is fair both to patients and to practitioners. But if the next phase is not well handled, the Government may find that pharmacists can be just as irksome as doctors.

Back to Top