§ Mr. Michael Morrisasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what are the benefits to patients from the new contract for retail pharmacists.
§ Mr. HayhoeThe new contract for retail pharmacists is intended to ensure that the National Health Service obtains and pays for only those pharmaceutical services which the National Health Service and its patients need. Family practitioner committees will, in future, decide whether the needs of patients justify the expenditure on a new NHS contract and will refuse an application if this is not the case. The only judgment will be one of patient need. This new arrangement will ensure that there is a reasonable but not excessive supply of pharmacies with National Health Service contracts and will make progress towards a better distribution of patient services.
In addition:
there will be an increased level of financial support to essential small pharmacies which provide valuable services to patients in sparsely populated areas.Pharmacies will be encouraged to be more cost-effective and efficient through changes in the pattern of remuneration. A more efficient service will, of course, benefit patients.Alterations to the system of cost collection will produce savings to the taxpayer which will be "shared" 445W equally between the profession and the Government. This will provide some funds to help implement developments in the pharmacist's role following consultation on the Nuffield Foundation's report on pharmacy and the Government's consultative document on primary care services.The new contract will provide a much better basis for relationships between the Government and the profession. This will make it easier to continue to improve services to the public.
§ Mr. Michael Morrisasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what are the implications of the recommended distance between pharmacies of at least one kilometre in the proposed new contract for retail pharmacists for the adequacy of services to patients.
§ Mr. HayhoeI shall let my hon. Friend have a reply as soon as possible.
§ Mr. Michael Morrisasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) what is the forecast cost to the National Health Service if (a) 500, (b) 1,000 and (c) 1,500 pharmacists were to close with compensation under the proposed new pharmacy contract;
(2) what is the latest estimate of the net savings to the National Health Service from the new pharmacy contract proposals on the assumption that 1,000 pharmacies close with compensation, after taking account of the costs of the new pharmacy practices sub-committees and the latest proposals for an appeal system,
§ Mr. HayhoeUnder the new contract pharmacies will be encouraged to be more efficient through changes in the pattern of remuneration. This will put pressure on some small pharmacies which have high unit costs and which cannot be justified in places where there are already adequate National Health Service services. For two years therefore there will be a system of payments to pharmacies who wish to relinquish the National Health Service contract.
The cost to the National Health Service of these one-off payments will, over a period, be completely offset by recurring savings in the overall cost of pharmaceutical services. For every unnecessary small pharmacy that closes a recurring saving will accrue. The level of such savings depends on a number of factors: for example, the number of small pharmacy closures over the two-year period, how demand for National Health Service services is redistributed to other pharmacies, and the efficiency of those pharmcies in dealing with the extra business. No definitive estimate is available therefore on how long it will take for savings to match payments to relinquish contracts, and any necessary administrative costs.
Additional savings of about £4 million will accrue from alterations in the way costs are reimbursed. Available information indicates that the number of contractors relinquishing their contracts will be much lower than the numbers suggested in the questions. The decision to give up a National Health Service contract will be left to the commercial judgment of the individual contractor.