Delay in introducing new community pharmacy contract is made official
Pharmacy negotiators have officially ruled out introducing the new contract in October following their latest meeting on 18 May with health minister Rosie Winterton.
Chairman of the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee Barry Andrews
said after the meeting that the minister wanted to implement the contract
as soon as possible but could not guarantee a date because of lack of
agreement over funding. The announcement follows speculation last week
(PJ, 22 May, p629). The minister also referred to the need to deal with
generics prices but gave no timescale. The PSNC position is that generics
cannot be dealt with in isolation.
The delay in introducing the new contract will be discussed by MPs at
a special meeting of the All Party Pharmacy Group on 15 June. PSNC chief
executive Sue Sharpe and Chris Town from the NHS Confederation are due
to speak. Rosie Winterton has also been invited to attend to listen to
the discussion.
Howard Stoate, chairman of APPG, said: “We have heard the concerns
raised by the PSNC about funding and timing. We’re now keen to
examine what has been going on, what the outstanding concerns are and
how the parties to the discussions think progress can be made.”
The National Pharmaceutical Association said this week that greater reassurance
was needed from the Department of Health that the new contract would
be fairly funded. |
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Pharmaceutical Journal
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