AAH welcomes contract delay as opportunity to iron out difficulties
Delaying implementation of the new pharmacy contract for England and Wales until October (PJ, 21 February, p205) has been welcomed by AAH Pharmaceuticals as “a much-needed opportunity to iron out numerous imponderables”.
AAH’s group managing director Steve Dunn said that the planned
launch this April had never been realistic and that the delay gave time
to deliver the contract in a workable fashion. “There are still
many areas to be worked on, such as funding for consultation areas. Is
the pharmacist expected to foot the bill for something that is being
imposed? What about premises that are simply too small?” Mr Dunn
is also concerned that issues surrounding information technology remain
to be resolved. He asked: “How will a common model be deployed
to record patient interactions and how will this link with a reimbursement
system to ensure the pharmacist is paid?” He also has concerns
about Government moves to cut the reimbursement prices of generic medicines.
October is not that far off, he warns. By then, community pharmacists
are expected to develop new skills and services and to change radically
the way they run their businesses. “It is a monumental step-change
calling for considerable investment, when the real details of the new
contract, including remuneration and return on investment, are still
shrouded in mystery.”
John D’Arcy, chief executive of the National Pharmaceutical Association,
said that April 2004 had always been an ambitious target. Incredible
progress has already been made, given that funding the new contract was
always been expected to be complex. “It will be far better to get
things worked out properly, than to rush things through.” The downside
of missing the deadline was that community pharmacists faced another
wait before being paid for what they did, rather than according to prescription
volume. |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal