§ 1. Ms Joan Walley (Stoke-on-Trent, North)If the Government will make a statement on the likely impact of the recommendations of the Office of Fair Trading report on pharmacy services in the UK on older people's access to pharmacy services. [104433]
§ 6. Malcolm Bruce (Gordon)What assessment the Government have made of the impact of the Office of Fair Trading report on community pharmacies on older people. [104452]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Mr. David Lammy)We announced yesterday that we will make proposals in response to the Office of Fair Trading report before the summer recess—[HON. MEMBERS: "Oh?"]—and we will publish a progress report at the end of June. We will look at the implications that the report has for access and choice by older people in relation to improved local pharmacy services.
§ Ms WalleyI thank the Minister for that reply. In a way, I am sorry that only three Departments are represented here today. If we were really going to get responses that do justice to the issues raised in the Office of Fair Trading report, all Departments of Government would need to be present, including the Department of Trade and Industry. [HON. MEMBERS: "Hear, hear!"]
I am concerned about pharmacy services for older people. In Stoke-on-Trent and north Staffordshire, many elderly people rely on having easily accessible pharmacies that are in the high street or near doctors' surgeries. When the Minister responds, he must do what I understand the Scottish Executive and Welsh Assembly have already done: he must reject the Office of Fair Trading proposals outright. I ask him to consult with his colleagues to ensure that the Governments' response puts the health needs of elderly people first and ensures that pharmacies can continue as at present.
§ Mr. LammyI assure my hon. Friend that we in the Department of Health have been consulting not only across Government but with all the representative bodies of pharmacy, the supermarkets, patient groups, consumer groups and others. She is right that community pharmacies play a vital role in our communities. They certainly support older people, not only because older people visit the pharmacies, but because the pharmacies provide delivery services and other things. That is why the Minister, Patricia Hewitt—[HON. MEMBERS: "Who?"]—the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry said in the House last week that the Government do not think that simple deregulation was the answer, and that it is important to consider the role of community pharmacies in examining wider national health service policy objectives.
§ Malcolm BruceI am a little disappointed by the Minister's response. Last week's press reports of what 141WH was said by the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry gave the impression that the Government have rejected the OFT recommendations, yet he is now telling us that the Government have not finally decided and that it will be several months until the Government's position is clear.
Does the Minister accept that the issue is causing a great deal of anxiety and uncertainty, especially among older people who are the prime users of local chemists? They want to know that they will not find that their chemist has closed and the service has been moved to a supermarket out of town. They want a developing NHS pharmacy, rather than a free-for-all whereby pharmacies can open and close, leaving people confused and without the guidance and advice that they expect to be able to obtain locally.
§ Mr.LammyIn fact, the pharmacy world in the form of the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee, which represents community pharmacists, said yesterday:
We welcome the Government's initial response to the OFT report and their view that any final decision must balance improved quality and access without diminishing the crucial role that pharmacies play.Pharmacists themselves are happy with what we said yesterday. They understand that we have a clear vision, which we set out for the pharmacy community in our "Pharmacy in the Future" document two years ago. At that time, we also addressed issues of contracts, reimbursement and generics. It must be right that when considering issues of competition, we examine wider NHS objectives and work with colleagues to find the right answer.
§ Mr. Peter Pike (Burnley)Is it not a factor in considering the wider role that pharmacies have been trying to develop, in line with Government policy, the approach of providing a wider primary care service to people in the community? Does the Minister accept that the large number of petitions and letters that all MPs have received shows that there are strong feelings on this issue throughout the country? We have all received representations from Asda and others, but they are concerned only about profit, not about the poor or elderly people who find it difficult to get to superstores.
§ Mr. LammyMy hon. Friend makes a strong point. For me, going through the Lobby in the past few weeks has been like running the gauntlet. Our community pharmacists and many other people, old and young, have petitioned us and written to us with their observations on the report. It is right that we carefully consider those representations. The subject of pharmacy has taken the lion's share of my diary in the past month, and I know that colleagues in the Department of Trade and Industry have also been closely examining the issue.
My hon. Friend is right that community pharmacies play a central role in our national service frameworks. I have just issued a framework document on diabetes. Pharmacies play a key role in diabetes care, and diabetes affects older people disproportionately. Pharmacies have a clear role to play in a range of health care issues 142WH across the NHS, which is why we must consider the OFT report not only in relation to competition in the market, but in relation to wider NHS policy.
§ Mr. Anthony Steen (Totnes)Is the Minister aware that the simple transfer of responsibility for repeat prescriptions alone could save general practitioners up to 2.74 million hours each year? I told him that during a Westminster Hall debate some weeks ago. In addition, £380 million could be saved if a quarter of patients visited their pharmacist rather than their doctor for minor ailments. In the light of the assurances given last week in the House by the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry that the Government do not believe that wholesale deregulation of the pharmaceutical industry is a good idea and that pharmacists are willing to modernise, what is delaying the Government's getting on with it?
§ Mr. LammyI said that there are ongoing discussions about pharmacists' contracts and the way in which they are reimbursed in respect of generic medicines. The hon. Gentleman is right to point to the benefits connected with repeat prescribing; there are also benefits for pharmacists in prescribing and medicines management. We must consider the matter across the piece, alongside the opening up of the market to more competition. We will reach a conclusion by the summer recess.
§ Jean Corston (Bristol, East)May I impress on my hon. Friend how important it is that the Office of Fair Trading report is well and truly rejected? I hope that the Government will make an announcement sooner than he said they would. I ask him to remember not only that older people are generally more dependent on pharmacy services, but that if people have ever driven a car, they have generally stopped doing so by the time that they are elderly and they cannot get to a supermarket with their prescriptions. A market is not appropriate in some sectors of the community, and that is certainly the case with pharmacists. They are not just shopkeepers, but health professionals in our community.
§ Mr. LammyI endorse my hon. Friend's comment that pharmacists are not just shopkeepers. They are professionals who want to play a greater role within the NHS. We set out that vision for pharmacists in the "Pharmacy in the Future" document, and we want to support them in that process. Pharmacists are in many communities day in, day out. I am sure that none of us as Members of Parliament have received criticisms of them because of the vital service that they provide. We want to support pharmacists. That is what we said yesterday and what my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry said last week when answering questions to her Department. We will make progress at the right pace. I remind my hon. Friend that both the National Pharmaceutical Association and the PSNC support us in that process.