The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 276 No 7390 p255
4 March 2006

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Health Bill will lead to NHS contracts being awarded wrongly, argues pharmacist MP

Provisions in the Health Bill to allow NHS contracts in England to be awarded according to commercial considerations are unworkable, Sandra Gidley (Lib Dem, Romsey) argued during the Health Bill debate last month.

She said that, as drafted, amendments to Clause 32, which deals with applications for pharmaceutical services contracts, would mean that contracts could be awarded according to promises made in relation to the commercial part of pharmacy businesses. “That is wrong and unenforceable,” she argued.

She asked how primary care trusts would be able to monitor contractors’ price promises on a regular basis or how PCTs could deal with pharmacies being sold to contractors with different marketing or pricing policies. She also said it would be difficult to see how a PCT could balance different offers — such as for over-the-counter medicines or for enhanced services — in different applications. “In short, the clause is unworkable as it stands, being difficult both to monitor and sustain,” she added.

In response, health minister Jane Kennedy said: “The important point is that although the price of over-the-counter medicines must obviously be a factor, the clause is not simply about price; to a large degree, it is about support and advice to the patient in the management of such medicines.”