The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 271 No 7262 p196
16 August 2003

This article
Reprint
Photocopy

News summary

Related websites
New Economics Foundation (more)

Entry plans are “deregulation by stealth”

The New Economics Foundation (NEF) has described Government proposals to inject greater competition into the pharmacy market as “deregulation by stealth” and is warning that they could trigger the slow death of traditional high street pharmacies (our Lobby correspondent writes).

The think-tank says that compromise proposals, announced by Trade and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt last month in response to the Office of Fair Trading report on control of entry, “benefit no-one, least of all pharmacy users.” In a new report, the NEF says that the proposals, opening the way for more competition, are “simply deregulation by stealth”.

NEF head of public affairs Molly Conifbee said: “The Government had a chance to stand up for principles and not big business profits on the issue of community pharmacies. Instead, it has opted for deregulation-lite — a middle way that benefits no-one.”