§ Chris GraylingTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what steps he will take to protect patient access to a full range of products after the deregulation of the appliance contractor market; [137358]
(2) what arrangements he is putting in place for the production of bespoke products after the deregulation of the appliance contractor market; [137359]
(3) what estimate he has made of the savings that the national health service will make under the deregulation of the appliance contractor market; [137360]
(4) if he will make a statement about his proposals to deregulate the appliance agency market.[137362]
§ Ms Rosie WintertonWe are currently consulting on a range of measures to modernise the regulatory system which governs whether or not a community pharmacy or appliance contractor can dispense national health service prescriptions, known as the "control of entry" test. As well as maintaining and improving access to pharmaceutical services, including the supply of appliances, in all our communities and continuing to raise standards for patients, the aim is to make the system more business friendly, to provide more certainty and reliability for the companies who depend on it and to make the process less time-consuming.
The measures include a proposal to exempt from that test applications from contractors who intend to provide a wholly mail order or internet based service by implementing the provisions of Section 43 of the Health and Social Care Act 2001 relating to the remote provision of NHS pharmaceutical services. This exemption would be subject to the range of services such contractors are to provide being agreed within the proposed new national contractual framework.
Full details are given in Chapter 4 of the consultation document, "Proposals to reform and modernise the NHS (Pharmaceutical Services) Regulations 1992", published on 29 August 2003 and available on the Department's website at www.doh.gov.uk./pharmacy regulationconsultation. It also includes at Annex C a draft regulatory impact assessment and competition assessment setting out further details of the possible costs and benefits of the proposals.
Comments can be sent, by 21 November 2003, to Peter Dunlevy, Pharmacy and Prescriptions Branch, Department of Health, Room 155 Richmond House, 79 Whitehall, London SW1A 2NS or e-mail to peter.dunlevy@doh.gsi.gov.uk
We have also set up a multi-disciplinary advisory group to advise on the details of implementation of the reform proposals. We have asked the group to report by December this year.