‘Things getting worse,’ says England's oldest pharmacy
“Things are getting worse and worse” for pharmacists, according to the owner of England’s oldest pharmacy.
Speaking to C+D during a National Pharmacy Association (NPA) leaflet drop in Burford, Oxfordshire earlier this month (October 7), Cedric Reavley of Reavley’s Pharmacy (see box out) said he would “hate” to scrap services such as the provision of dosette boxes, at-home deliveries and palliative care, as a result of expected funding cuts.
“Although we are trying to meet the demands of patients and meet the various targets the government is setting us… if it wasn’t for the one-mile radius of dispensing we operate in, I don’t know if this business would survive as a pharmacy,” Mr Reavley said.
Mr Reavley explained that the area’s clinical commissioning group seem “interested” in continuing to pay for the palliative care service his pharmacy provides. “How that will be funded in the future, I don’t know,” he said.
Mr Reavley was speaking a week before the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee rejected the government's plans to slash pharmacy funding in England by 12% for December 2016 until March 2017. At the same time, the government announced the launch of a 'Pharmacy Urgent Care' pilot programme, which will allow patients who call NHS 111 for urgent repeat medication to be directed straight to a community pharmacist, instead of out-of-hours GP surgeries.
During the leaflet drop, NPA head of communications Stephen Fishwick told C+D the NPA had "made it [its] business" to clarify public understanding around the funding cuts. The NPA has since described (October 14) government plans urgent care plans as a "smoke screen" for the looming funding cuts.
Adina Josephs, pharmacy manager of Frosts Pharmacy in Banbury – who joined C+D on the NPA’s campaign trail – said when Mr Mowat first announced the funding cuts were on hold, she hired three members of staff.
Ms Josephs said at the time that she was nervously waiting to hear what the funding “package” will have in store for community pharmacy.
Vicar and pharmacist: ‘NHS England asked me to open on Christmas Day – I told them I had church first’
Cedric Reavley is the third-generation family owner of England’s oldest pharmacy – Reavley’s in Burford, Oxfordshire – which was founded in 1734.
Mr Reavley said he takes pride in knowing his customers on a first-name basis. This was evident when the mayor of Burford – or John as he knows him – picked up his prescription during C+D’s visit.
“I had a phone call from NHS England a couple of weeks ago, saying they were desperate for somebody in the Witney area to open for a short period on Christmas Day,” Mr Reavley told C+D. “I said I would do it, because it is an important thing for the area… and because I am living on the premises, it is easy for me to open.”
However, he had one proviso: as associate vicar at the town’s St John the Baptist’s church, he needed the morning off for its Christmas service.
“[NHS England] were so short of anybody, that they accepted what I proposed,” Mr Reavley said.
While his 282-year-old pharmacy is a tourist attraction, Mr Reavley admits it’s had to adapt its service provision. He is working with a local GP surgery to access the summary care record, and is adopting the electronic prescription service ahead of the rollout of “tokens”.
“What we stock is very important and the fact that we sell over-the-counter products, and not just NHS prescription items, frankly helps us earn money to keep this place going,” Mr Reavley said.
He stressed that if it wasn’t for his “very loyal customers”, the pharmacy would not be “viable”.
Which of your services might be at risk from the government's funding cut?