Ballot in October to approve new contract framework
Pharmacy contractors in England and Wales are to be asked in a ballot next month whether they approve of the framework for the proposed new community pharmacy contract, the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee has decided.
Sue Sharp, chief executive of the PSNC, speaking at a briefing after
the committee’s September meeting, said: “We are keen for
contractors to send a strong signal to the Department of Health that,
if the money and the environment are right, they are
prepared to take on the new roles in the contract.”
The wording and date of the ballot have yet to be finalised. At this
stage, contractors will only be asked to approve the framework that has
been agreed by the DoH, the PSNC and the NHS Confederation, which represents
primary care trusts (PJ, 19 July, p77 and 26 July, p112). A second ballot
on funding for the new contract will be held later. In this respect,
the arrangements are similar to those for the new general practitioners’ contract.
GPs approved the framework in a first ballot but concern about losing
a second ballot over funding forced concessions from the DoH.
The Government’s consultation document on changes to the control
of entry regulations was the other main subject of discussion at the
PSNC meeting.
The committee has deep concerns about the four proposed exemptions (one-stop
primary care centres, shopping developments over 15,000 sq m, pharmacies
open more than 100 hours a week, and internet or mail order pharmacies)
and their impact on existing contractors. The PSNC is to work with the
National Pharmaceutical Association to commission an expert analysis
of the potential impact of the exemptions. This will support its case
for the tightest possible definitions of the exemptions so as to prevent
abuse of them. Specific concerns about the exemptions are:
• Primary care centre consortia It is not yet clear whether a pharmacy
contractor or company needs to be listed specifically as the pharmacy
partner in any consortium intending to open a one-stop primary care centre,
or whether any other partner company can add a pharmacy into the proposal.
The definition of what will count as a one-stop centre also needs clarification.
• Shopping developments The definitive list of shopping developments
over 15,000 sq m has not yet been issued. Once it is available, the PSNC
intends to use local pharmaceutical committees to evaluate the impact
that might be seen in their areas.
“One of our biggest concerns is that the result of the Government’s
decision will be the clustering of pharmacies around GP surgeries at
a time when the Government should be encouraging the opposite,” Mrs
Sharpe said. She added that evidence presented by the Office of Fair
Trading during its action on resale price maintenance had shown that
the control of entry regulations had reduced clustering.
The PSNC also believes that 2006 will be far too early a date to review
the impact of changes to control of entry, given that new regulations
would only have been in place for two years.
Mrs Sharpe and Steven Williams, chairman of the PSNC’s contract
planning and rural subcommittees, have been appointed members of the
Department of Health’s advisory group on implementing the reform
of the regulations. This group will also examine the issue of dispensing
contracts in rural areas. The PSNC, the General Practitioners Committee
and the Dispensing Doctors Association are reviewing proposed amendments
to the regulations that were agreed in principle in 2001 but shelved
after the OFT announced its review of the pharmacy market. |
