War of words breaks out over rural Scottish services
NHS boards should consult local residents to establish their views before approving pharmacy applications, BMA Scotland said this week. The association is concerned that dispensing doctors are under threat by the introduction of new pharmacies into small rural communities in Scotland.
Community Pharmacy Scotland hit back at the BMA, saying the suggestion
that GP services were jeopardised was “ill-informed and flawed”.
The BMA said changes to the national pharmacy contract mean that community
pharmacies are now more viable in smaller communities because of the
additional services they can provide. “A consequence of this is
that existing GP practices lose their dispensing rights and subsequently
the loss of income limits their ability to deliver additional medical
services to patients and could impact upon the provision of services
and clinics locally,” it said.
Dispensing doctors, it added, believe that this represents a change to
local service delivery and as such requires full public consultation
under the arrangements set out in the NHS Reform (Scotland) Act 2004.
Andrew Buist, deputy chairman of the BMA’s Scottish General Practitioners
Committee and lead on rural health issues, said: “Residents in
local communities may welcome the establishment of a new local community
pharmacy. However, if they were made aware of the impact that this could
have on their ability to access a wider range of health care services
from their local GP practice, then they may not be so enthusiastic.”
Alex MacKinnon, head of corporate affairs at CPS, responded: “What
is being claimed ignores some basic facts, in particular that, under
the new legislation, NHS boards are required to identify any shortfalls
in their provision of pharmaceutical care and ensure that any such shortfalls
are resolved. This is not simply some idle desire, but a legal obligation
on boards to deliver the best possible pharmaceutical service and care
to people, in line with Government policy.
“These claims also ignore the fact that dispensing doctors should
only be operating in areas where it is not possible to have a pharmacy
contract
awarded. The best option is for pharmaceutical care to be provided by
a pharmacist.”
Harry McQuillan: Patients should have access to GP and pharmacy
services |
Harry McQuillan, CPS’s chief executive, added: “The terms
of the new contract are nothing to do with viability, and everything
to do with providing patients with access to health services. In addition,
allowing pharmacists to treat minor ailments, for example, is mainly
designed to ease pressure on GPs and other health care professionals.
“In our view it is quite wrong to somehow seek to persuade patients
that they will be forced to choose between access to GP services or pharmacy
services. NHS boards are properly charged in Scotland with deciding upon
the provision of these services based on a full and professional appraisal
of what is sustainable and appropriate. Where it is possible for patients
to have access to both, then they should have that right.”
Susan Taylor, chairman of the Remote Practitioners Association
of Scotland, said: “Rural dispensing GPs currently provide excellent services
to their patients, but cannot access the new income streams available
to community pharmacists. Destabilisation of these rural practices by
the introduction of a new pharmacy could mean communities will lose access
to a local GP service.” |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal
Acrobat
Reader