Steady progress made on new contract in Scotland
Scottish service pilots to be rolled out |
Negotiations over the new community pharmacy contract in Scotland are making steady progress, and roll-out of another of the contract’s four core service pilots is expected to begin next month.
The Scottish Executive Health Department and the Scottish Pharmaceutical
General Council wrote to chief executives of NHS boards last week to
summarise the latest developments (PDF 100K). Frank Owens, chairman of
the SPGC, told The Journal: “Good progress is currently being made
on the e-pharmacy front particularly with regard to supporting the roll-out
of the minor ailment service. We are also looking to extend the chronic
medication service pilots over the coming weeks.”
Of the four core services — a minor ailment service (MAS), a chronic
medication service (CMS), an acute medication service (AMS) and a public
health service (PHS) — most progress has been made with the minor
ailment service.
The Scottish Executive/SPGC letter states that work is ongoing to introduce
a central patient registration system and to move from a manual to an
electronic system as community pharmacists are connected to N3 (which
will be completed by this time next year). “The next stages will
involve the introduction of a pre-printed prescription form and then
full electronic generation and transmission of prescriptions with automated
payment processing,” it says. “It is possible that a full
electronic MAS system could be operated across Scotland from early 2005
through to complete coverage in 2006.”
The letter also confirms earlier suggestions regarding remuneration.
An outline agreement has now been reached. The CMS and MAS services will
both be funded by capitation payments, possibly on top of a basic allowance.
The AMS will be subject to a flat “per item” dispensing fee.
And the PHS will be funded through a basic allowance weighted to reflect
the health profile of the pharmacy’s population. Pharmacists will
also be remunerated for the infrastructure required to provide the new
contract. This will be in two parts: a set allowance for maintaining
IT and premises to agreed standards, and a fund for required developments.
Pricing of the contract is still under negotiation.
Mr Owens added that steps will be taken to avoid financial turbulence. “We
anticipate new services will be rolled out in a step-wise manner, moving
forward as and when supporting infrastructure permits. In order to protect
contractor income and avoid risk, both financial and operational, it
will be necessary to introduce some form of agreed transitional funding
arrangements. That transition will need to be flexible, most likely involving
a number of phases, and capable of recognising the changing nature of
service provision,” he said. |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal
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