The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 279 No 7462 p89
28 July 2007

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News summary

Government proposes devolving global sum to primary care trusts

Proposals to change legislation governing community pharmacy funding in England, which include devolving the global sum to primary care trusts, were announced by the Department of Health this week.

There are currently two sources of funding for the fees and allowances that pharmacies receive for providing NHS services — the global sum, held centrally by the DoH, and that from budgets held by primary care trusts. The Government is proposing that the global sum is devolved to PCTs and included in their baseline allocations from no earlier than April 2009.

Commenting on the announcement, Sue Sharpe, chief executive of the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee, said that implementation of the proposal to allow the centrally held budgets to be transferred to PCTs would not in itself make any change to the levels of payment. “Most important for contractors, it does not mean that payments will in future be determined locally, and the consultation paper makes it clear that the department proposes to continue to set fees and allowances nationally, negotiating with the PSNC.” Adjustments to fees and allowances that are sometimes needed in-year will similarly continue to be agreed with the PSNC.

Mrs Sharpe added that a single source of funding could support a more simple system, which is currently made complex by the need to split payments between the two funding sources. Over 50 per cent of funding is presently provided by the global sum and this pays fees and allowances for essential services. Payments made for the electronic prescription service and advanced services, as well as practice payments, are already charged to PCT budgets, and agreed levels of purchase profits are also funded by the PCT drugs budgets.

Alison White, National Pharmacy Association chief executive, commented: “The crucial issue for our members is ensuring continuation of current levels of payments. We would be very concerned if monies devolved to local level are not ring-fenced, and PCTs, already under huge pressure to meet financial targets, are tempted to chip away at the pharmacy pot.”

Responses to the consultation “Modernising financial allocation arrangements for NHS pharmaceutical services 2007” should be sent to Gillian Farnfield (e-mail gillian.farnfield@dh.gsi.gov.uk) by 17 October 2007.