04 Mar 2010
On 2 March, the National Pharmacy Association represented its members, the vast majority of the UK’s high street pharmacies, at a Ministerial Summit on the Medicines Supply Chain.
Speaking after the Summit, convened by the Secretary of State for Health Andy Burnham, National Pharmacy Association chief executive, John Turk, said:
“The summit was a very constructive step, bringing together representatives of pretty much everyone in the medicines supply chain, including the National Pharmacy Association, to try to address the current problems. There is a commitment from all the participants to collaborate with government, and each other, to ensure that medicines supplied for UK patients actually reach them.
We were pleased that so much time was spent talking about the quotas that have been brought in to try to regulate supply. There seems to be a growing acknowledgement that quotas are a blunt instrument, often causing distressing delays for patients who are waiting for medicines. This has become a huge problem for community pharmacists, who can spend hours trying to fulfil prescriptions for certain medicines. The summit agreed a way forward by focusing attention on those medicines that are most affected.
This is a complex problem. Manufacturers have to put in sufficient volume of medicines, wholesalers and pharmacists need to manage stock efficiently and everyone must observe the law and professional ethics. Most community pharmacists have nothing to do with medicines export.
If we all keep our eyes fixed firmly on the needs of patients, and continue to have a constructive dialogue with one another, then we can work towards minimising delays and strengthening the medicines supply chain in the long term.
I was delighted to see that the All Party Parliamentary Pharmacy Group has also recognised the inherent structural problems and is calling for all parties to make a commitment to a review of the medicines supply chain following the next election.
The NPA is committed to working with this group to deliver a package of actions to reinforce the responsibilities that apply to all of us, through development of best practice guidance, and to investigate how we can ensure patients’ needs are properly met.”
