Further delay to new contract inevitable
Further delay in the implementation of the new pharmacy contract seems inevitable, following comments made at a meeting of the All-Party Pharmacy Group in the Palace of Westminster earlier this week.
Sue Sharpe, chief executive of the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating
Committee and Chris Town, chief executive Greater Peterborough Primary
Care Parnership, negotiating on behalf of the NHS Confederation in the
tripartite talks with the Department of Health, confirmed negotiations
were ongoing. Implementation will be in spring 2005 at the earliest,
but with the date that the PSNC could organise roadshows to explain the
funding details before the summer already passed, the prospect of having
a ballot of community pharmacists before the autumn is increasingly unlikely.
John Chisholm, chairman of the GPs’ Committee, pointed out that
it took 10 months from the point that the GPs’ contract was agreed
to implementation in April 2004. Although the period may be shorter for
the pharmacy contract, because primary care organisations will be more
familiar with the process, the likelihood of implementation by April
2005 appears slim. The pharmacy contract negotiations are further complicated
by the uncertainty surrounding control of entry and the part generic
pricing will play in the deal. |
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