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Pricing
Huge differences in the charges applied to “specials”
From Mr N. A. Raja
I am writing to support comments made by David
Turner in the PJ recently
(12 November, p607).
I am a recent graduate from the University of Bradford and my final year
project consisted of investigating extemporaneous dispensing in community
pharmacies. After analysing the data I collected, I noticed some interesting
differences in the amounts charged by different companies for the same “special”.
The product with the largest price difference was “creamy paraffin
cream” with a price ranging from £4.43 (plus postage and packaging)
to £104.50 (plus p and p) — a difference of more than 23 times.
After a little further investigation, I discovered that the lower priced
products were obtained from the local hospital. It appears that, according
to my data, hospital manufacturing departments offer products that are
considerably cheaper than those of some manufacturers. I proposed that
it would be beneficial for the NHS to insist that hospital manufacturing
departments be used as the first port of call for pharmacists wishing to
order extemporaneous products.
I accept that the number of prescriptions for products requiring extemporaneous
preparation is declining, leading to the inevitable result that most pharmacists
are unable to keep their skills in this area up to date. I can see how,
therefore, some products requiring extemporaneous preparation cannot be
compounded in a community pharmacy and have to be purchased from elsewhere.
But why must the NHS continue to pay manufacturers any price they want,
without question for products that can be prepared for considerably less
money?
Nahman Ahmed Raja
Batley,
West Yorkshire
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The
Pharmaceutical Journal