New contract for community pharmacists focuses on medicines use
Community pharmacists will play a greater role in repeat prescribing and promoting patient concordance under proposals in the new pharmacy contract. The proposed contract, which has been out for consultation
since July, includes “essential services” which all pharmacists
will be expected to offer from next April, “enhanced services” which
the profession is expected to move towards and “additional services” which
are those which meet a specific local need.
Dispensing and repeat prescribing are both classified as essential services
and under the new contract pharmacists will routinely be expected to
give patients advice about dispensed medicines and warn of any interactions.
Pharmacists will also be expected to work towards playing a greater role
in the system of repeat prescriptions. In the future they will have the
power to alter prescriptions to synchronise medicines and optimise dosage.
They will also be able to recommend a date for a patient’s review
with the GP.
The contract pulls back from insisting that pharmacists have to offer
routinely a medicines-use review to all patients. That new role has been
given “enhanced service” status. It was not made an “essential
service” because pharmacist negotiators and the Government agreed
that the work would require extra training and extra investment in premises
to allow face-to-face consultations to take place.
Alastair Buxton, head of NHS services for the PSNC, which has been involved
in the contract negotiations, said: “I would say that the medicines-
use review, which is medicines management, is opening the door to getting
pharmacists to talk to patients — to make that link between pharmacist
and patient and the responsibility for medicines taking.”
The profession will have the chance to vote on the final proposals in
a ballot in the autumn. Details about the pricing of the contract, which
pharmacists will be balloted on separately, have yet to be
published.
If the framework and funding are eventually approved the new contract
will be introduced from April 2004.
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