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Letters to the Editor
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Prescription pricing
Independent and small group pharmacies are refusing to dispense expensive items
From Mr A. Sidhu, MRPharmS
I am seeing an increase in the number of prescriptions for expensive
items (eg, norditropin) in the pharmacy I work for (Boots The Chemists).
Many patients are informing me that other independent pharmacies have
specifically told them that they will not dispense their prescription
as it is too expensive for them to order. I may be wrong but is this
not breaking our terms of service by refusing to dispense a prescription?
Is there an ethical issue involved?
Imagine the scenario: “I am sorry madam but I cannot dispense your
prescription since it is expensive for me to order. I will not get reimbursed
for a few months and do not get a wholesale discount like the other chemist
does. Perhaps you should go there.”
This conversation sounds preposterous as the patient is being told that
they cannot be cared for because it is not financially viable.
If the current way that prescriptions are reimbursed by the Prescription
Pricing Authority does not change, large multiples are better placed
to provide care for patients if cost is an issue when deciding to dispense
a prescription. Independent pharmacies are damaging the public’s
perception of them and this in turn is damaging the profession as a whole.
Why else do other professionals see us as money grabbers?
Amandip Sidhu
London
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STEPHEN LUTENER, head of regulation at the Pharmaceutical Services
Negotiating Committee, responds:
Paragraph 5 of the Pharmacists’ Terms
of Service requires a pharmacy contractor to dispense with reasonable
promptness,
all prescriptions for medicines, unless they are scheduled drugs or
one of the exceptions applies.
A sudden exceptional expensive prescription could cause serious cash
flow problems for some pharmacy contractors. In this situation, we
would recommend that pharmacy
contractors contact their primary care trust and request an advance payment
for that particular item, rather than waiting for payment via the
normal payment
cycle. It must be stressed, however, that such a decision would be discretionary
for the PCT. |
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The
Pharmaceutical Journal