You may or may not know about an enhanced service - only available in South Tyneside - which we used to call "supervision/daily dispensing of non cd drugs." 

This service has been around for many years and was originally commissioned by the old South Tyneside health authority. It isn't used very often. It is (was) ahead of its time really...the idea is that vulnerable adults identified by the GP/prescriber as needing support daily are sent to the pharmacy with what's known as a "white form" - and a monthly prescription.This avoids the need for daily prescriptions for these very vulnerable members of society - Very useful if patients are at risk of overdose. The pharmacy then dispenses, or supervises, the product daily (or as suggested in the form). 

The pharmacy make a claim for the supplies via a claim pathway. I say it's ahead of its time because it's exactly this sort of service that was identified in the recent "call to a action" - to allow pharmacists to provide better care to patients... 

Sadly there's talk of a service review and this service is currently "on hold" as South Tyneside is an outlier...and since the NHS changes, a budget needs to be found for it to continue. 

So much for innovation...It's this sort of service that should be commissioned everywhere to help vulnerable adults stay out of institutions or prevent accidental or deliberate overdosing...

I had an email the other day from South Tyneside CCG regarding an issue under public consultation at the moment; namely the new emergency care hub idea - that is the idea to develop a one stop shop on the general hospital site. 

There were very few members of the public at the first consultation event, but those that were there seemed to agree that the current walk in centre is a convenient and accessible way of obtaining services, but that these could potentially be delivered by the person's GP or community pharmacy. 


Good news for pharmacy you may think? 

Well, yes and no, because although the public welcomed pharmacy's contribution, anything other than the supply function simply wasn't really understood and more shockingly, the entire audience was unaware that community pharmacies these days have private consultation rooms!

We all have some real work to do here; the LPC and contractors...we simply must raise our game here...for pharmacy the consultation room is a given now, but why are the public so unaware?

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!

More young people than ever before are taking a degree in pharmacy...

There are more schools of pharmacy than ever before, and more students in them. New university courses seem to be popping up everywhere. A recent report by the Modernising Pharmacy Careers Programme stated that the number of pharmacy schools in England increased from 12 to 29 between 1999 and 2009, and the number of pharmacy students went up from 4,200 to 9,800.

The problem with this situation is that some students are finding it very difficult to obtain pre-registration places; and pharmacist jobs are becoming more hard to find. Surely this situation needs to be addressed? With over demand, the knock on effects to terms of service and moral within the profession will be catastrophic.

There is simply no point in producing loads of expensive pharmacists with nowhere to go...except out of the profession?

Thankfully, pharmacy organisations are talking about this and hopefully a solution will evolve...perhaps in the form of more roles for pharmacists - let's hope so - for the sake of young pharmacists...