Responding to the interim community pharmacy funding changes to be brought in from October 2012, Rob Darracott, Chief Executive of Pharmacy Voice said:
“This is yet another reminder that fundamental changes to the contractual settlement in England are necessary. We had been warned that the impact of these reductions would be severe and accept that it is better to correct now than to have an even bigger shock later. The sector should be better rewarded for professional services and less reliant on volume payments, while the variations in the calculations of the retained purchase profit element, made worse by blockbuster drugs coming off patent, continue to represent a challenge in cash flow terms that few can keep track of or indeed cope with. We also believe that future savings that pharmacies make for the NHS from purchasing should be reinvested in services that support improving the public’s health, including through investment in pharmacists skills in helping people use their medicines more effectively.”
