The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 279 No 7476 p489
3 November 2007

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Pharmacy to be represented on Darzi advisory group

Andy Murdock, pharmacy director at Lloydspharmacy, will represent the profession on the advisory group that will help Lord Darzi develop a future strategy for primary and community care, public health minister Dawn Primarolo revealed this week.

Making the announcement at the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee community pharmacy conference in Birmingham, Ms Primarolo said: “It will be crucial that, as these developments take place in that review, pharmacy’s voice is heard in the deliberations ahead.”

She added that the Government is considering setting up a pharmacy reference group to support Mr Murdock.

Ms Primarolo stressed that the forthcoming pharmacy White Paper must be fully integrated and an indivisible part of the Government’s primary and community care strategy. The main elements of the strategy, she said, will be available early in the new year.

The White Paper will reflect pharmacy’s involvement with practice-based commissioning. “Pharmacy must be positioned within PBC frameworks so that it can contribute effectively and authoritatively,” said Ms Primarolo.

She urged pharmacists to learn from leading edge practitioners who have been successful at engaging with PBC. “For our part, we will continue to see what more needs to be done to support your involvement,” she added.

Ms Primarolo indicated that the pharmacy White Paper will address:

• Better and more convenient access

• Better choice and quality of services for patients

• The benefits patients can expect from pharmacy involvement in their care

• Pharmacy’s contribution to public health

“I want the White Paper to prove a catalyst for radical expansion and innovation,” she said. She confirmed that it would also incorporate the Government’s response to the Galbraith review of pharmacy contractual arrangements and take account of recommendations from the All-Party Pharmacy Group’s report on the future of pharmacy.

Regarding recent reductions to Category M reimbursement prices (PJ, 6 October 2007, p371), Ms Primarolo assured participants that it was not an attack on them or their businesses and that the Government, as custodian of public funds, has a duty to ensure that the funding contractors get is fair to the NHS, as well as fair to contractors and, above all, to the taxpayer.

“It was the right thing to do and I shall consider the same action again if the evidence justifies it. But, equally, I would consider action if evidence showed the balance had swung too far the other way,” she said.