Press Release
26th March 2003
Executive Rejection of DTI
Report "Tribute to Local Pharmacists’ Efforts"
– McNeil
MSP for Greenock & Inverclyde,
Duncan McNeil, has welcomed today’s announcement that the
Scottish Executive would not be accepting the Office of Fair
Trading (OFT) report on pharmacies.
The plan, which recommended that entry regulations to the industry should be lifted to allow any registered pharmacy with qualified staff to dispense NHS prescriptions, was thrown out by Deputy Health Minister Frank McAveety. His decision following his meeting in Greenock with Mr McNeil and a group of concerned local pharmacists on Tuesday 11th March.
Currently, NHS Boards can regulate the number and location of dispensing pharmacies in an area. A new contract is granted only if a new pharmacy is "necessary or desirable in order to secure adequate provision of pharmaceutical services in the neighbourhood."
Welcoming the announcement, Mr McNeil said:
"I am glad that the Scottish Executive has listened to the genuine concerns expressed on this issue and has decided to reject this report.
"The principle of ready access to health services should be at the heart of the NHS. I look forward to our local pharmacies playing their part in delivering this for years to come."
The Minister said:
"After careful consideration of the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) report, the results of the public consultation and the view of the Scottish Parliament, Scottish Executive Ministers have concluded that deregulation is not the way forward for Scotland.
"Our prime consideration was to weigh the OFT recommendation against our public health policy and the potential impact on patients.
"We remain totally committed to The Right Medicine: A Strategy for Pharmaceutical Care. Our recent White Paper, Partnership for Care, reinforces its aims by setting out our plans for improving health, partnership working and quality improvement.
"The OFT report suggests that deregulation would benefit consumers, but consumers are also patients. At the forefront of my mind has been the possible impact deregulation would have on patients in Scotland’s remote and rural communities and deprived urban areas. These patients rely heavily on ready access to local community pharmacy and medical support services and that service must be maintained.
"Scotland has, proportionally, more remote and rural areas than other parts of the UK, as well as higher levels of deprivation. The key consideration for the Executive is access to services in these areas. We believe the OFT’s report would run the significant risk of at least reducing, and at worst, removing services in some areas. We are not prepared to take that risk.
"Our current network of community pharmacists already plays a key role in helping improve the health of the people of Scotland and providing care for patients. This is due to the welcome commitment of the profession to deliver our pharmaceutical strategy.
"It is against this background that we
have begun to negotiate a new contract for community pharmacies.
The primary focus of those negotiations will be on implementing
the strategy but we will also consider how the existing
regulatory framework can be improved to take account of health
policy in Scotland. We will take the opportunity to consider how
pharmacy services in the future can best respond to the interests
and needs of patients and consumers in Scotland."
ENDS
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