Pharmacy regulations will need further amendment
Further amendments to the legislation that underpins the new pharmacy contract in England must be expected, the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee has warned.
Following the April PSNC meeting, PSNC chief executive Sue Sharpe said: “We
expect there will be a need for further amendments, either to the Regulations
or the Drug Tariff, in the course of the year because some of the details
are still not fully finalised.”
Mrs Sharpe acknowledged that agreeing the regulations with the Department
of Health had been a major job and that there had been no points of conflict,
but that translating the planned services and funding arrangements into
legislation had been more complex than either the PSNC or DoH had expected.
One area in which amendments can be expected encompasses the relationship
between pharmacy staffing levels and new contract remuneration, which
comes into effect in October.
“
The detailed guidance to contractors as to which staff contribute to
staffing levels remains to be agreed between the Department and ourselves,” Mrs
Sharpe said.
The guidance will be important because counter staff who take prescriptions
from patients and check that prescription charge exemptions are correctly
completed are contributing to the dispensing process.
Mrs Sharpe also acknowledged that the outcome of the general election
could affect community pharmacy’s future.
“The new contract is agreed,” she said. “But any new
Government could seek to renegotiate the whole contract or health service
priorities
could be reviewed. I would be very surprised if the basic direction of
policy were to change.” |
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