DoH consults again on charges for pharmacy contract applications
Primary care trusts in England will be able to levy charges for pharmacy
contract applications if Department of Health proposals go through.
The Department is consulting for a second time on the plan, which will
require a change to primary legislation. Charges were first mooted in
the DoH consultation
on changes to be brought in after the Office of
Fair Trading recommended total deregulation of NHS pharmacy services
(PJ, 6 September 2003, p285).
At that time, 60 of 270 responses favoured charging, with the balance
of opinion favouring moderate fees to deter frivolous applications. Opposition
was voiced in 27 responses. Subsequently, an expert advisory group recommended
charges of £500 for applications requiring consultation and £150
for applications to be decided by PCTs without consultation.
The current plan is for enabling primary legislation that will give the
Secretary of State power to introduce charges and set them nationally.
Different fees would be charged for new applicants and those seeking
contracts for additional premises, minor relocations and additional services
from existing premises. Charges would not apply to doctors applying for
outline consent to dispense in rural areas.
The consultation paper also proposes an extra criterion for the consideration
of contract applications — whether they improve the provision of,
or access to, over-the-counter medicines and other health care products.
Consultation on the proposals runs until 20 September.
Sue Sharpe, chief executive of the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating
Committee, commented: “There have been instances where a single
applicant has submitted dozens of speculative applications around a town,
each of which requires a PCT to undertake investigations.” |
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