C+D Senate Live: Contractors ‘struggling’ to deliver quality within existing contract
"Nobody was happy" with the current situation, and the pharmacy contract needed to shift away from a volume focus, Fin McCaul, chair of the Independent Pharmacy Federation, the live C+D Senate debate.
"There are so many things that are wrong. We need to stop tweaking and start again – remuneration needs to be fair to everyone and needs to encourage investment," said Mr McCaul.
Other industry experts pitching their ideas to the conference called for pharmacy to be incentivised to work together with other healthcare professionals to improve patient outcomes.
"We need to stop working in silos," said Hemant Patel, north-east London LPC secretary.
And industry leaders agreed pharmacists needed to be funded to spend more time with patients to empower them to take their medicines properly.
Pharmacy could save the NHS billions of pounds through optimising medicines use and operating minor ailments schemes, suggested Mark Koziol, chair of the Pharmacists' Defence Association.
But the chances of these savings being realised within the current contractual framework were "almost zero" because pharmacists were spending "all their time in the dispensary", Mr Koziol warned.
The PDA has called for separates funding to enable clinical pharmacists to work with patients with long-term conditions to help improve medicines adherence and so reduce hospital admissions.
Pharmacy Voice chief executive Rob Darracott agreed pharmacists needed to add value to patient journeys and said the supply of medicines needed to underpin better care.
He called for more research into medicines adherence to help empower pharmacists and patients to work together to decide on the best prescribing regimes for individual patients.
"The safe supply part of the contract should be driven on what patients and pharmacists decide, not on what doctors or receptionists decide on a whim," he said.
Look out for full coverage of the Senate Live coming soon.
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