01 August 2012
The Department of Health (DoH) has published new regulations on NHS pharmaceutical services, which were laid before parliament last week.
Due to come into force in September 2012, the regulations will:
-introduce the concept of “unforeseen benefits” to the overall provision of services allowing applicants to demonstrate innovative ways of providing services or of delivering better health outcomes not anticipated in the PNA
-replace the current legislative system known as “control of entry”, where decisions, with certain exceptions, are based on whether it is “necessary or expedient” for a Primary Care Trust (PCT) to grant applications for entry to its NHS pharmaceutical services list, with a new regime where PCTs’ determinations are based on needs or improvements identified in the relevant PCT’s local Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment (PNA)
-introduce a new performance regime for under-performing chemists, which involves a series of graduated actions that PCTs will be able to apply, with removal from the PCT’s pharmaceutical list as an ultimate sanction
-remove three of the four current exemptions to the “necessary or expedient” test – for pharmacies opening at least 100 hours per week, in designated large out-of-town shopping centres and in large one-stop primary care centres
-make provision for managing the transition between the current legislative system and the new arrangements.
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