The National Pharmacy Association has launched a consultation on a set of service principles that independents should reasonably expect from their wholesalers.

The service principles include:

• Fairness, eg, any surcharges should be proportionate and linked to the value of service
• Responsiveness, eg, responding promptly to queries or complaint
• Timely communication, eg, proactively notifying a pharmacy at the point of ordering if the wholesaler is unable to supply a product
• Efficiency, eg, reliable, regular and frequent supply
• Transparency, eg, describing in detail why a quota has been set at a certain level.

NPA chief executive Mike Holden said: “We believe that pharmacists should have the ability to make informed choices about their medicines suppliers.

We are therefore creating tools with which NPA members can measure and benchmark the performance of their wholesalers. In due course, we’ll facilitate NPA members to communicate with each other about wholesalers, using the principles as a framework for comparison.”

The consultation will run for two months and can be viewed online at: http://www.npa.co.uk/Independents-Voice/Consultations/Wholesalers/.