Many independents unprepared for new contract
Many independent community pharmacists are not prepared for the new community pharmacy contract, according to Avicenna, which presented results from a survey at its annual conference in Sorrento, Italy, last week.
The buying group sent a questionnaire to its members and carried out
40 in-depth interviews by telephone. Almost 70 per cent of members believed
they would need to refit their pharmacy to comply with the new contract.
At present, only 33 per cent who answered had a consultation area and
only 51 per cent knew what the requirements for consultation areas were.
In addition, most members did not know what their primary care trusts’ strategies
for implementing the new contract were and only 40 per cent of members
knew whether there were plans for local improvement finance trust (LIFT)
programmes (such as super surgeries or health centres) in their area.
Speaking at the conference, Salim Jetha, chairman of Avicenna, said that
there was a lack of preparation for the changes facing pharmacists and
that, while members were concerned about this, there was a lack of enthusiasm
to tackle the issue. “Change is happening fast in community pharmacy,
but pharmacists are not changing their focus to keep pace with it,” he
said. He also outlined a number of training programmes and resources
that Avicenna is setting up to help its members overcome some of these
difficulties.
Commenting on the survey results, Stephen Lutener, head of regulation
at the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee, said: “As
we approach implementation on 1 April 2005, pharmacy contractors will
be in varying states of preparedness, but will have a transitional period
of six months in which to make amendments to meet the requirements of
the ‘essential services’ tier.” |
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