Contract is sound, NPA tells Galbraith review
Community pharmacy's contractual framework is fundamentally sound, according to the National Pharmacy Association, but commissioning by primary care trusts in England is losing momentum.
In a written submission to Anne Galbraith’s review
of pharmacy contracting arrangements (PJ, 20 January, p63), the NPA says that PCTs
are supposed to identify the health needs of their populations and secure
a range of services that meet them and that PCTs should clearly set out
what additional provision they wish to secure and then stimulate that
provision.
The submission adds that the so-called balanced package of measures in
the pharmaceutical Regulations are at odds with this aim because they
place PCTs in a passive or, at best, reactive role, rather than allow
forward planning. PCTs, the NPA says, are powerless to deny applications
that meet the control-of-entry exemption criteria even when the end result
could be detrimental to overall service provision. The submission calls
for a new paradigm based around managing market entry.
The NPA adds that it would support the use of a judgement of necessity
and desirability at the heart of the process.
NPA chief executive John D’Arcy said: “We trust this approach
will be within the capabilities of the new PCTs in a way that may not
have held true for many PCTs prior to the recent configuration. Current
arrangements make it difficult to plan strategically and match local
pharmaceutical provision to areas of need and are, therefore, out of
line with broader NHS reforms.”
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