The regulations set out what steps LHBs can take if pharmacies do not comply with their terms of service – for instance, with regards to temporary pharmacy closures where these did not happen with “good cause”, the government explained.

A LHB may decide to withhold a payment contractors would receive for providing pharmaceutical services in instances where the board determines the contractor failed to provide a pharmaceutical service or to do so with a “reasonable standard”, the government added.

Health boards can only withhold remuneration from contractors if breaches to terms of service were made “without good cause”, if “the amount withheld is justifiable and proportionate” and if this has “regard to the nature and seriousness of the breach”.

They must also “make every reasonable effort” to engage with contractors before going ahead with such measures, the Welsh government stipulated, including using “a variety of methods” to contact them, doing so more than once and “ensur[ing] that communications are received”.

In cases where contractors “fail to take the steps set out in a remedial notice, to the satisfaction of the LHB”, are “repeatedly [...] issued with remedial notices or breach notices”, or if the health board determines that a contractor or pharmacist is “likely to persist in breaching the term of service without good cause”, the LBH can remove the premises from a pharmaceutical list.

Health boards in Wales make strides in tackling temporary pharmacy closures

Latest from News

More from Business