This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Deal to upgrade community pharmacies
05/07/2002
An additional £500,000 to upgrade community pharmacies
and an increase from £750,000 to £1 million in the funding
available for 'model schemes' for pharmaceutical care, was
announced today.
The extra funding forms part of a deal between the
Executive and the Scottish Pharmaceutical General Council
on the remuneration of community pharmacists for providing
pharmaceutical services to NHS patients in 2002/03.
The full settlement package includes:
- a 3.6 per cent rise in community pharmacists'
remuneration
- £500,000 to help upgrade community pharmacies, and
improve facilities for patients
- a £250,000 increase in the funding available for
model schemes, which help develop the role of
pharmacists in palliative care, mental illness and
caring for older people, to £1 million.
- an increase in the standard dispensing fee from
94.6 to 94.7p from April 1, 2002, and to 95.2p from 1
October 2002 along with abolition of quantity related
fees (QRFs) and the remaining container allowance
Health Minister Malcolm Chisholm said:
"Around 600,000 people in Scotland visit their local
pharmacist every day for a range of advice on healthcare
and medicine. Community pharmacists are often people's
first and only point of contact with a health professional
and this makes them ideally placed to meet the day to day
healthcare needs of communities and provide people with the
facts they need to make informed choices about their
health.
"As highlighted by our Strategy for Pharmaceutical Care
launched earlier this year, we are committed to enhancing
the role played by pharmacists in improving health and
health services, and maximising their wide range of skills
for the benefit of patients, GPs and other members of the
healthcare team.
"Today I am delighted to announce a 3.6 per cent
increase in remuneration for community pharmacists, which
includes £250,000 to develop Model Pharmacy Schemes. This
will offer increased pharmacy-based support for patients
with a mental illness, frail and older patients, and
patients requiring expert guidance on medicines for
palliative care.
"Finally, we are once again providing an additional
£500,000 - over and above the global sum - to upgrade
community pharmacies. This funding will be used at local
discretion, for example to complete the programme of
providing private advice areas, to improve security and
access for the disabled or to support other innovation in
the use of pharmacy premises use. This will help improve
patient access to services and the working environment for
pharmacists and their staff.
"This settlement will enable us to work along with the
SPGC toward establishing a framework for the modernised
community pharmacy contract, rewarding the quality of
service delivered rather than the quantity of prescriptions
dispensed."
Money for model schemes is given to Primary Care Trusts
to help develop the role of pharmacists in the particular
areas of palliative care, mental illness and caring for
older people.
The model scheme for frail older people in North West
Perthshire, which won a UK award for pharmaceutical care,
demonstrated the benefits of community pharmacists
reviewing the medication of patients who had been
identified by social staff as having problems with their
medicines.
QRFs are an additional fee paid to pharmacists,
depending on the quantity of the drugs dispensed. A
container allowance is a special allowance to cover the
cost of the containers in which the drugs are dispensed.
Now that most drugs are dispensed in patients packs, the
demand for such containers has fallen considerably.
The Executive is committed to having a framework for the
modernised community pharmacy contract in place by
2005.
Community pharmacies premises improvement programme -
2002-3 Allocations
Health Board and cash allocation
Argyll and Clyde: £45,000
Ayrshire and Arran: £39,000
Borders: £10,000
Dumfries and Galloway: £14,000
Fife: £34,000
Forth Valley: £29,000
Grampian: £45,000
Greater Glasgow: £99,000
Highland: £17,000
Lanarkshire: £58,000
Lothian: £67,000
Orkney: £1,000
Shetland: £1,000
Tayside: £40,000
Western Isles: £1,000
Total: £500,000
5. Key facts:
* Every day 600,000 people across Scotland visit their
local pharmacist
* There are 4000 pharmacists working in Scotland's
community and hospital
pharmacies, supported by a range of staff including
counter assistants and
technicians.
* Last year 63m prescriptions were dispensed in Scotland
and around #720m
was spent by NHSScotland on medicines dispensed in the
community.