Negotiations are under way for a new pharmacy contract in Northern Ireland, the Pharmaceutical Contractors Committee (PCC) has confirmed.

PCC chief executive Gerard Greene told C+D that there were "a series of intensive meetings scheduled over the next couple of months" to discuss the contract.

"It is the PCC’s aspiration that agreement is reached as soon as possible so that the public can benefit from an enhanced community pharmacy service, the health service benefits from an accessible and highly skilled profession and contractors are properly resourced to meet the challenges ahead," he said.

Following the news, PSNC told C+D that it did not expect to be negotiating a new contract for contractors in England in the near future.

PSNC head of NHS services Alastair Buxton said the committee was working instead towards "iterative change and development" to enhance the pharmacy contract in the changing NHS.

PSNC was looking to develop services and might make changes to the funding arrangements, he said, but added: "We wouldn’t brand that as a new contract."

"It’s going to be evolution rather than revolution – in the current changing world we wouldn’t necessarily wish to start from scratch, we want to build on what we’ve already got," he told C+D.

Mr Greene said service development was a priority for pharmacy in Northern Ireland. "We want to see the new contract providing a framework for service development that will benefit the public and see community pharmacists play a much greater role in primary care," he said.

Mr Greene added that he hoped to see a comprehensive minor ailments service restored following the exclusion of certain complaints from the service in November.

Alan Erwin, a community pharmacist in County Antrim, agreed. "The minor ailments services have been scaled back quite a bit and it would be wonderful if the service was restored, perhaps to include additional conditions," he told C+D.