Apr. 19 2024
Source Page: Scotland's Genomic Medicine Strategy 2024-2029Found: Critical within this area is also engagement with pharmacy colleagues around the use and optimisation
Report Apr. 19 2024
Committee: Public Accounts CommitteeFound: State Pension HC 654 34th Local Government Finance System: Overview and Challenges HC 646 35th The pharmacy
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the medication reimbursement mechanism for community pharmacists.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Through the medicine margin survey, the Department assesses whether the reimbursement arrangements pay pharmacy contractors as agreed as part of the community pharmacy contractual framework (CPCF). The medicine margin survey considers what pharmacies paid for medicines by looking at their invoices compared to the amount reimbursed by the National Health Service. Where the survey finds that they have been underpaid, we increase the pharmacy contractors’ payments, and where they have been overpaid, we decrease payments.
Furthermore, where pharmacies cannot purchase products at or below the Drug Tariff NHS reimbursement price, Community Pharmacy England can request that the Department reassesses the reimbursement price. If a new reimbursement price is issued, this is known as a concessionary price.
Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of medication costs on community pharmacies.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Through the medicine margin survey, the Department assesses whether the reimbursement arrangements pay pharmacy contractors as agreed as part of the community pharmacy contractual framework (CPCF). The medicine margin survey considers what pharmacies paid for medicines by looking at their invoices compared to the amount reimbursed by the National Health Service. Where the survey finds that they have been underpaid, we increase the pharmacy contractors’ payments, and where they have been overpaid, we decrease payments.
Furthermore, where pharmacies cannot purchase products at or below the Drug Tariff NHS reimbursement price, Community Pharmacy England can request that the Department reassesses the reimbursement price. If a new reimbursement price is issued, this is known as a concessionary price.
Asked by: Neale Hanvey (Alba Party - Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she plans to take to ensure that online pharmacies that provide medicines to patients in the UK adhere to the NHS clinical guideline on puberty-suppressing hormones or the treatment of children and adolescents who have gender (a) incongruence and (b) dysphoria.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
All community pharmacists, whether working on a high street or online, have a duty of care to their patients. We would expect pharmacists to take reasonable steps to ensure that all the medicines they dispense are against legally valid prescriptions, and appropriate for the patient under the authority of the prescriber. This includes both National Health Service prescriptions and private prescriptions. Registered pharmacy professionals and premises are independently regulated by the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC), and guidance has been issued for those providing services at a distance, including online pharmacies.
While pharmacists are responsible for a final clinical check, ultimately the responsibility for the product prescribed rests with the prescriber. We are looking closely at what can be done to address any loopholes in prescribing practices, including work with the GPhC to define the dispensing responsibilities of pharmacists providing private prescriptions, as recommended by the Cass Report.
Mentions:
1: Lord Markham (Con - Life peer) Things such as Pharmacy First are good ways ahead. - Speech Link
Mentions:
1: Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville (LD - Life peer) This appears to indicate that the veterinary profession is suffering from a lack of pharmacy specialists - Speech Link
Mentions:
1: Steve Double (Con - St Austell and Newquay) I particularly welcome the Pharmacy First scheme, which was successfully piloted in Cornwall. - Speech Link
2: Penny Mordaunt (Con - Portsmouth North) Friend for welcoming the excellent service Pharmacy First, which is a much appreciated and convenient - Speech Link
Mentions:
1: Maria Caulfield (Con - Lewes) We have our Pharmacy First roll-out as well. That is all for general health purposes. - Speech Link
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many consultations have been carried out each week as part of Pharmacy First since its launch.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
98 percent of pharmacies have signed up to Deliver Pharmacy First and claimed more than 125,000 clinical pathways consultations for February, the first full month following launch. From May, the NHS Business Services Authority will publish monthly data on the number of consultations claimed.