Sharpe

Cuts and more cuts

Wednesday November 2

I am at the LPC Conference at the Congress Centre in London today and am surprised the health minister, David Mowat, attends and is robust in announcing that cuts will go ahead in the face of a lukewarm reception from delegates. He states an intention to move community pharmacy into a future shaped around services largely commissioned locally, admitting that this will be easier to bring about in some areas than others.

Sue Sharpe speaks of betrayal by the DH’s disregard of the value of community pharmacy and dismissal of concerns of patients who rely on the care provided by community pharmacy teams.

Sharpe warns of testing year ahead

Sue Sharpe posts a New Year message to the profession

Sharpe warns of testing year ahead

Sue Sharpe posts a New Year message to the profession

PSNC seeks judicial review of cuts consultation

PSNC seeks judicial review of the October decision to implement cuts to community pharmacy funding 

What now?

Funding cuts go ahead against best advice

Presented with a fait accompli

It was gratifying to see the media coverage of the government’s cost-cutting measures for community pharmacy this past week or so. No matter that the spokeswoman from Pharmacy Voice on Radio 4’s Today programme seemed a bit nervous, the message was clear: community pharmacy is facing big cuts and pharmacies will close.

Establishment payments will reduce from December, with a 12 per cent cut in the global sum from December to March, followed by a 7.4 per cent cut in 2017-18. The pharmacy minister, David Mowat, calls them ‘efficiency savings.’ They are weasel words.

Government imposes funding cut

PSNC criticises government's "short-sighted and ill-judged" imposition of funding cuts

Some good news

Continuing with its nomadic existence, Pharmacy London meets today in London Councils’ offices at 591⁄2 Southwark St (shades of Harry Potter). Strangely, it is cheaper than hiring a room at the RPS’s new premises, even after members’ discount.
We have a dilemma. Some see Pharmacy London as the pre-eminent organisation for pharmacy contractors across London in both a representational and negotiating role. In recent times, it has done both. NHS England has used PL for disseminating information and negotiating the vaccination service. However, increasingly, NHS England has been using our meetings as reason for cutting other engagement at local level.

NHS Alliance calls for greater role for pharmacists

NHS Alliance calls for “more proactive action” towards a new model of community pharmacy-led care