Twice-daily deliveries at risk if others follow Pfizer arrangements
Twice-daily deliveries to pharmacies would be threatened if other manufacturers
follow Pfizer’s lead in changing supply arrangements, MP Sandra
Gidley (Lib Dem, Romsey) warned this week.
Speaking to the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee’s
community pharmacy conference in Birmingham, Mrs Gidley raised the issue
of Pfizer’s recent decision to use UniChem as its sole distributor
from March 2007 (PJ, 7 October, p413). “If Pfizer’s action
is repeated by other manufacturers it could mean the end of pharmacy
delivery as we know it,” she said.
She added that the system of twice-daily delivery of medicines is valued
and relied upon by large sections of the public. “We tinker with
it at our peril,” she warned.
Mrs Gidley went on to argue that the control-of-entry exemption for pharmacies
which open for more than 100 hours a week also poses a risk to existing
pharmacy services. The reason the Government had decided to retain restrictions
was, she stressed, because it recognised the importance of the network
of community pharmacies. The existing pharmacy network was seen to be
precious and not to be meddled with, she said.
The awarding of further contracts under the 100-hour exemption must,
she argued, be resisted, since these contracts pose a danger to the current
pharmacy network. The impact of introducing these exemptions, and of
local implementation finance trust developments and “super-surgeries”,
needs to be assessed before any further changes to the control-of-entry
regulations take place, she added.
Meetings p555 |
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