Contractors and trade bodies have publicly aired their frustrations as the paper showing the economic analysis of the pharmacy sector is shrouded in secrecy and not available for public reading.
Some contractors are saying that the contract negotiations should be bought to contractors for a vote, I’m not sure what my thoughts are on that as I’m not sure that contractors all want the same thing.
We are often so divided in the sector. We also do need to remember that the CPE committee are formed of people that have been voted in by contractors so we have to trust them to do their job and work on getting us the best deal.
Read more: IN FULL: CPE sets out April to July ‘timeframe’ to deliver new contract
I’m following the Independent Pharmacy Contractors Network closely. It’s hard to know what their aim is. I think contractors are expecting a miracle and let’s face it we are never going to get the percentage increases in funding that we all want. The biggest issue I have seen in community Pharmacy is our lack of unity.
GPs are much better at this. Perhaps it’s because they are not really competing with each other as they have a fixed patient list with little variation month to month.
For many years this is where community pharmacy has gone wrong, we simply don’t unite, and we air concerns in the public domain. I’ve not seen other HCP’s do this.
The NPA ran a ballot with brilliant results but whenever I talk to my colleagues, they always say they can’t stop offering free deliveries because the pharmacy down the road won’t and therefore may take all their patients.
Read more: Collective action! Pharmacies to cut hours and services from April 1
They don’t want to move to core hours because the contractor near them is open longer etc. Many contractors talk about striking but I have to ask myself would we all truly go on strike, especially if the neighbouring pharmacy doesn’t?
The big news that just broke last week was a real surprise, Wes Streeting announced that Labour is bringing NHS England into the Department of Health and Social Care.
The news came as a big shock to everybody (though over the past month we have seen departures from those at the top of NHSE so probably shouldn’t have been as surprised as we were). What does this mean for the future of community pharmacy?
Read more: NHSE scrapped: ‘Fresh start or just more political chaos?’
I’ve seen lots of different statements from different people and organisations, some saying that this is a good thing and some saying that it’s not so good.
Change is scary for many, but from what I’ve learnt over the many years especially when not changing is not an option, is that you have to just carry on doing the great job that you’re doing and try not to let politics and re-organisations get in the way of that. Patients still need their medication and the other services we offer, so let’s focus on them.
I say, carry on doing the great job that we are but the question is are we doing a good job? I think in the main the answer is yes, absolutely.
Considering how much the role has changed in the last 5 years and how many new services have been added to our portfolio, we are doing a brilliant job.
Let’s use Pharmacy First as an example, we set this up across almost 10,000+ pharmacies in two and a half months with Christmas, our busiest period in between. This is what we do best.
We are pacy and agile. The media always pick up on the one or two pharmacies that are perhaps not doing things as they should be. GPs (in my experience on social media) always talk about the payment structure for pharmacy first, without fully understanding exactly how we get paid.
Read more: What does the future hold for Boots - and its pharmacists?
Locally GPs talk about the one or two referrals that are sent back to the practice following a PF referral, as opposed to the eight that weren’t. Can we please cut Community Pharmacies some slack?
If we in Community Pharmacy kept a log of every inappropriate referral, every dose error that could have caused patient harm, every time a patient tells us how frustrated they are because they just can’t get an appointment even though we are being told that more appointments than every are being offered we would run out of memory on our desktops!
Let’s hope that as we head into longer days, and better weather, the sun shines on Community Pharmacy in the form of a new fit for purpose contract. We are desperate for change and recognition of what we do in the form of remuneration. Thank You’s and Well Done’s are lovely, but they don’t pay the bills!
