Scottish contract initiatives need Society support
SPGC chairman Frank Owens |
Successful delivery of services within the new pharmacy
contract in Scotland will depend on robust support from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, according to Frank Owens, chairman of the Scottish Pharmaceutical General Council.
Speaking in Edinburgh at the annual general meeting of the Society’s
Scottish Executive on 13 June, Mr Owens said that the new contract would
finally mean community pharmacists are recognised as key members of the
primary health care team. This recognition would include roles “as
prescribers of medicines, as public health practitioners and, critically,
as the primary care experts on matters of pharmaceutical care”.
The minor ailment service will provide the first major public indication
that pharmacy’s role is changing, he added.
The funding model upon which the contract is based will enable pharmacists
to capitalise on new prescribing rights, Mr Owens explained. The model
moves away from a
volume-based contract and comprises capitation fees for two core services,
fixed fees for another and an item of service payment for the remainder.
Since the transition to the new contract began 18 months ago, a national
minor ailment service, community pharmacy supplementary prescribing clinics
and the community pharmacy urgent supply facility have all been established.
“Scotland is, without doubt, at the forefront of pharmacist prescribing,
not just across the UK but perhaps even globally. And I predict further
opportunities in the future. None of this would have happened, I believe,
if we had not had the courage to move away from an individual payment
per item based contract,” Mr Owens commented.
Scottish
AGM p731 |
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