Fears that Scotland faces prescription pricing disruption
Fears that prescription pricing in Scotland could be disrupted again have been highlighted this week by the Scottish Pharmaceutical General Council.
The Practitioner Services Division, the division of the Common Services
Agency that deals with payments to pharmacy contractors, is due to move
premises in the middle of this year. This will result in new desktop
scanners being introduced to price prescriptions since the scanners currently
being used will not be relocated to the new premises.
SPGC chairman Frank Owens wrote to the CSA this week to request that
steps are taken to ensure that there is no disruption to payments during
the relocation period.
Mr Owens commented: “The turmoil caused to pharmacists’ payments
when the scanner system was introduced in 2000 is still very much fresh
in our minds. As PSD switches over to the new scanners, we need to be
assured there will be no repetition of the previous episode.” He
added: “Pharmacists will not be so accommodating this time round
should things go wrong again. It is imperative that there be appropriate
contingency plans agreed at an early stage and that these be shared with
SPGC as soon as possible.” |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal