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MODERNISING NHS COMMUNITY PHARMACY IN SCOTLAND

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY & CONSULTATION ARRANGEMENTS

This consultation document outlines the Executive’s proposals for legislation that will allow the NHS in Scotland to deliver a number of the community pharmacy objectives set out in its pharmaceutical strategy The Right Medicine and, in particular, to support the future implementation of a new community pharmacy contract.

In February 2002 the Department published its strategy for pharmaceutical care in Scotland, The Right Medicine. This followed the publication in 2001 of the Scottish Health Plan Our National Health: a plan for action, a plan for change. Collectively these documents set an agenda for modernising and redesigning pharmacy services. The overarching aim is to improve patient care and to better utilise the skills of community pharmacists and their support staff to meet the local needs.

In summary this consultation document lists proposals to introduce:

• Provisions to enable the implementation of a New Community Pharmacy Contract.
• New requirements for NHS Boards with regard to planning and securing the provision of pharmaceutical care services in their respective areas.
• A requirement for all registered pharmacists providing community pharmacy services to be entered on an NHS Board’s pharmaceutical list.
• An amended definition for ‘supervision’ of pharmaceutical services so that it follows the approach taken in the Medicines Act 1968.
• Powers for NHS Boards to secure the provision of pharmaceutical services from outwith their area.
• A power that would enable Ministers to designate which elements of community pharmacists’ remuneration should be paid from NHS Boards unified budgets.

The document has a separate section for each of the proposals listed above and there is an additional section (Section 1) that provides the statutory background to the proposals with a general overview of how community pharmacy services in Scotland are delivered.

Full implementation of the proposals would require a combination of both primary and secondary legislation and administrative direction. Implementation of any primary legislation requirements would be subject to a suitable legislative vehicle arising.

It is the Scottish Executive’s intention that every piece of new policy be consulted upon as widely as possible before receiving final policy approval by Ministers. A fuller note of the Executive’s consultation process is provided at Annex B.

Written responses to this consultation paper are invited by Tuesday 1^st June 2004:

By e-mail to: Pharmacyconsultation@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

or by post to:

Susie Braham
Scottish Executive
Health Department
St Andrew’s House
1ER
Regent Road
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG

If you have any queries please contact Anne MacLeod on 0131 244 2532.

We would be grateful if you could clearly indicate in your response which questions or parts of the consultation paper you are responding to (using the consultation questionnaire if appropriate) as this will aid our analysis of the responses received. We would also be grateful if, in responding, you would complete the Respondee Information Form enclosed.

For future engagement:

If you wish to access this consultation online then please go to http://www.scotland.gov.uk/view/views.asp. You can telephone Freephone 0800 77 1234 to find out where your nearest public internet access point is, if you prefer to submit your response by e-mail to pharmacyconsultation@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

SEConsult

A new email alert system for SE consultations (SEconsult) was launched in December 2003. This system will allow stakeholder individuals and organisations to register and receive a weekly email containing details of all new SE consultations (including web links). SEconsult will complement, but in no way replace SE distribution lists, and is designed to allow stakeholders to ‘keep an eye’ on all SE consultation activity, and therefore be alerted at the earliest opportunity to those of most interest. We encourage you to register as soon as possible.

Access to consultation responses

We will make all responses available to the public in the Scottish Executive Library by Monday 21 June 2004 and on the Scottish Executive consultation web pages by Monday 25 June 2004, unless confidentiality is requested. All responses not marked confidential will be checked for any potentially defamatory material before being logged in the library or placed on the website.

SCOTTISH EXECUTIVE HEALTH DEPARTMENT
March 2004

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