The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 276 No 7396 p434
15 April 2006

This article
Reprint   Photocopy

  Acrobat Reader

News summary

LPC and PSNC agree to bury the hatchet after four-year dispute

North East London Local Pharmaceutical Committee and the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee have settled their differences after being in dispute for more than four years.

In a joint statement issued this week the two committees agree that they have different roles and that neither can require the other to adopt a particular course. However, both accept that there are agreed ways in which each can seek to influence the other.

The LPC is to pay the PSNC £87,340 plus £9,000 interest owed from April 2002 to December 2003 and will restart paying its PSNC levy on 1 May 2006. The LPC has also agreed to recommend to its constituent contractors that they remove a clause from its constitution that makes payment of committee and PSNC expenses discretionary.

The dispute arose after claims that the PSNC had ignored more than half of the resolutions accepted by the LPC representatives’ conference in 2001. In particular, one resolution asked the PSNC to develop a policy on pharmaceutical public health.

The settlement includes a statement on this. It says that public health practice is embedded in the new contract and that the PSNC and the LPC are committed to supporting its further development by increasing the capacity for such work in community pharmacy and by stimulating demand for it from the NHS.

The two committees will now review the lessons learnt from the dispute and act to reduce the likelihood of any recurrence by introducing dispute resolution procedures. The LPC has welcomed written clarification by the PSNC of its procedures for dealing with LPC conference resolutions.

“The parties believe that the profession is best served by forthright and respectful relationships between LPCs and the PSNC, and effective communication between them,” the statement concludes. “They recognise that this has not been the case in the past, and commit themselves to creating an environment in which such relationships may flourish.

“The PSNC welcomes and accepts the LPC’s assurance that remarks that may have been construed as supporting a break away from the PSNC were not so intended: the parties believe that community pharmacy and the public are best served by organisations that are united by a single purpose.”