At 13:37 05/12/2004, you wrote:
>Paul,
> > As you may guess, the local
> > pharmacists are not happy about this one either.
>I suspect that you can guess why not ;-)
>Paid on a per item basis - you are at a stroke about to half their income
>from your practice and increase their
>stockholdings to cover the larger amounts on scripts.
>
>This is non-negotiable and not in any way under the control of the pharmacist.
>
>Subject to how dependent the pharmacy is on your surgery perhaps several
>hundred thousand pounds has been wiped off the value
>of the pharmacy.
>
>OK we understandably have different viewpoints - but I suspect that those
>best able to see the balance are dispensing
>doctors - so could we have a dispensing doctors view on 28 days scripts in
>general and 7 day dosette box scripts?
>
>Regards
>
>Jeff
What's been clear to GPs, dispensing and non-dispensing alike, is that to a
very significant degree pharmacies, like pharmaceutical companies, act in
their own best interests.
Pharmacies have destroyed dispensing practices, limited to the capacity of
other practices to expand by challenging intentions to dispense, and where
independent (the group for which I have most sympathy) usually ended up
either going out of business or selling out to chains.
This is not to say that pharmacies or pharmaceutical companies never do any
good work. They do.
However the idea that GPs should do extra unnecessary work to help pharmacy
businesses and their shareholders is so ludicrous as to be beggar belief.
We use 3 month prescriptions where clinically safe, up to 1 year in some
circumstances. We also use shorter prescriptions where clinically
appropriate of course. GPs do themselves, their patients, and the NHS a
favour by putting medical priorities and their own efficiency first. We
can spend more time reviewing prescriptions (we don't need a pharmacist to
do it for us), working on patient concordance and less time signing pieces
of paper (or indeed checking computer screens).
Adrian, Paul and others could not be more right.
Regards
Julian
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