New pharmacy contract “yes” vote welcomed
The vote in favour of the new pharmacy contract in England and Wales has been widely welcomed by pharmacy organisations.
Speaking at this week’s All-Party Pharmacy Group meeting in Westminster,
Howard Stoate MP, APPG chairman, said: “This marks a watershed
for community pharmacy and I’m delighted to see pharmacists embrace
the plans for change so positively and in such numbers.” He added: “It
is an exciting time for pharmacy. It is now up to pharmacists to deliver
and I’m confident
that by working closely with primary care trusts, GPs and other health
professions and patients, they will.”
John D’Arcy, chief executive of the National Pharmaceutical Association,
told The Journal that the absolutely unequivocal “yes” vote
demonstrated community pharmacists’ commitment to enhancing their
role in the NHS. “There are a number of outstanding
issues that still need to be addressed but the good news is that now
we have the structure and funding sorted out, we can move forward to
implementing the new contract,” he said.
Commenting on the negative opinions that have been expressed about the
contract, Mr D’Arcy said: “We live in a democracy so it was
quite right for people to air their views. It is not possible to please
everyone but the
contract has struck the right balance between taking pharmacy forward
and not taking such a big leap that some people are disenfranchised.
Now that the decision has been made that the contract is happening, everyone
has to get to grips with it.”
Steve Dunn, chairman of the British Association of Pharmaceutical Wholesalers
and group managing director of AAH Pharmaceuticals, said that the positive
vote by contractors demonstrated a powerful will among pharmacists to
provide wider services. “I still think the initial continued concentration
on volume dispensing, rather than service delivery as was expected, means
a chance to enhance the role of community pharmacy in the NHS may not
have been seized as speedily as it could have been,” he commented.
Mr Dunn warned that there would be losers as well as winners under the
new contract. “There will be various reasons for this but
reluctance to face up to change will certainly be the dominant one,” he
said.
The vote was welcomed by NHS Employers, the new employers’ organisation
for the NHS in England, and part of the NHS Confederation.
Chris Town, chairman of the NHS Employers negotiating team, commented: “This
is a great result which represents an exciting opportunity for pharmacists
to change the face of pharmacy. The new contract will give community
pharmacists their first opportunity to fully integrate their
services into primary care.” He added that the extension of the
role of pharmacists is a positive step for patients. “The challenge
for us now is to implement the contract. Over the coming months we will
work closely with the Department of Health and
the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee to take this forward,” he
said.
The PSNC announced last week that contractors had voted
to accept the new
contract (PJ, 27 November, p773).
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The
Pharmaceutical Journal
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