It's hard enough in pharmacy to make money these days, but it's surprisingly easy to lose it if you don't keep your eye on the ball!
 
The other day I was in the dispensary and noticed a prescription to check - one item on it was for 2x28 anastrozole 1mg (This product is in category M at £1.93 per box of 28)...
 
Imagine my horror to discover the brand Arimidex waiting to be checked! Arimidex brand of anastrozole costs £68.56 per box. It turns out that operator error had linked the generic to the brand  - and it had been ordered in error...
 
Clinically correct, but financially a disaster!
 
Had this not been stopped, we would have made a considerable loss on the transaction - and it's a sobering thought that avoiding a loss is sometimes harder in pharmacy than making a profit...

As we begin a new year, my mind has been casting back and thinking of the issues we faced over the last one: huge numbers of contract applications, complicated tendering schemes, medicine shortages, changes to the methadone payment, payment problems via the PCT/PPD to name just a few...and I've been wondering what's in store for us this year??
 
Well, by the time you read this, contractors will be coming to terms with reduced remuneration caused by category M reductions in October last year - and even if we accept the rationale for this, it's difficult to bear...
 
The PCTs shut up shop at the end of March; so in April we expect the CCGs and the new Commissioning Board with its local area teams to open for business. We also expect the health and wellbeing boards of the local authority to take up the public health agenda. Pharmacy services will be commissioned from these new entities, but they will take time to find their feet - so don't hold your breath for any new services for a while...
 
So, in conclusion,  I think next year will be an enormous challenge for contractors - but rest assured that your LPC members will pick up the baton and run on your behalf wherever we can to obtain the best deal we can for community pharmacy and to look after the interests of contractors. 
 
On another note,
I hope that the interim financial arrangements that are currently in force will be replaced by a considered financial settlement that is fair to contractors - based on the cost of service enquiry and the numbers of contracts. Pharmacy has suffered over the last few years partly because of the fact that the financial package that funds community pharmacy (formally known as the global sum) - whilst increasing slowly with costs - is based on historic numbers of pharmacies (~10,000) and not the almost 13,000 pharmacies we have today. So although the overall sums involved have increased in line with inflation, the fact that there are so many more contracts now means we all have a smaller slice of the cake...
 
A friend of mine, and past Secretary of our Committee, once said "If the Government want pharmacy to deliver as we know it can, then the DOH needs to remember that -  you get nowt for nowt and precious little for sixpence!"
 
Happy New Year everyone!

The way Community Pharmacy is funded is going to change over the coming years.
 
We have been told by Sue Sharpe, the Chief Executive at the PSNC, that the changes will be evolutionary and not revolutionary - so hopefully we'll still be left with some of the baby in the bathwater when everything changes. Personally I'm in favour of this cautious approach...I don't want to give funding away without guaranteed adequate funding coming back in a different form. Other pharmacists, however, have stated that we must have accelerated change to a completely new contract - to ensure we get our fair share whilst uncertainty exists...Perhaps the answer lies in the mid-ground - a relatively quick introduction of a new contract that rewards clinical outcomes, whilst preserving the "core" of our business?
 
One thing is certain, we simply cannot continue to do more and more for the same amount of remuneration...As costs go up, so should our profits. Pharmacy is a business and we need money to survive - like any other business. Any new services should come with new money to fund them - as new services require investment!
 
If we continue to be squeezed this isn't helpful to anybody...more stress leads to more risk...