PSNC chairman: pharmacy’s confidence is shaken
Community pharmacy’s confidence has been shaken by the Government’s failure to develop new advanced services, and investment made by pharmacy contractors has gone unrewarded. Chris Hodges, Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee chairman, was to make these points at the committee’s annual dinner this week, after The
Journal went to press. Health minister Dawn Primarolo was due to attend the dinner in London.
“When we agreed the pharmacy contract with the Department of Health
three years ago, it was on the basis of the concept of fair funding,” Dr
Hodges was due to say.
“The money paid to pharmacies by the NHS
was calculated and agreed as being fair to the 9,750 pharmacies in England
and fair to the NHS. Today, as a direct result of the changes to control
of entry made by the Department of Health, there are 10,300 pharmacies
and that number is growing. What was fair funding for 9,750 is not — and
cannot be — fair funding for 10,300.”
He was also due to say: “In recent months there have been huge
dips in NHS income for pharmacies and that has put many under real pressure.
Pharmacies large and small have been struggling to break even because
of the huge swings in NHS payments. That is unacceptable. Pharmacists
need funding stability and certainty so they can invest in and deliver
new services. “The financial attrition that pharmacies are experiencing
is causing many to cut back on resources at precisely the time that the
NHS should be developing them.”
He told The Journal that although the pharmacy contract provided a good
basis for fair funding and new services it was under great pressure.
Dr Hodges was due to call on Ms Primarolo to work with the PSNC to tackle
the financial issues highlighted.
Dr Hodges was also expected to call for more nationally agreed advanced
pharmacy services, specifically a minor ailments service, a weight management
service and a range of screening and diagnostic services, in addition
to services designed to manage long-term conditions such as diabetes
and asthma.
Concerns about loss of the protected professional allowance for low-volume
pharmacies were raised at the local pharmaceutical committee conference
that preceded the dinner (p296).
Less fluctation in reimbursement
expected for coming year
Pharmacy contractors in England should see smaller
fluctuations in their NHS reimbursement in the coming financial
year than happened
this year. The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee is
working with the Department of Health to try to obtain the results
of the
necessary invoice inquiries sooner so that adjustments to Drug
Tariff prices intended to achieve target income, including the
annual uplift,
can be made in July 2008 for the 2008–09 financial year and
then in April 2009 for the 2009–10 financial year.
“The issue is to achieve smoother delivery of income,” said
Mike Dent, PSNC head of finance, adding that the analysis of invoices
was also being refined so that the PSNC needed to discuss fewer
queries with the DoH. |
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