GPs taking over the commissioning of local services, category M clawbacks and 100-hour competitors are pharmacy contractors' biggest fears, C+D's Salary Survey 2012 has revealed.

More than one in five contractors said they considered GPs taking over local service commissioning the biggest threat to their business, while the same proportion chose category M clawbacks and 100-hour competitors as their number-one worry.

"Undoubtedly, many contractors are struggling with cash flow" Mike Holden, NPA	More on category M Category M Barometer Time to talk business A pharmacy wishlist for Jeremy Hunt
	Two thirds of the 57 contractors who responded to the survey said they had suffered cash-flow problems because of category M clawbacks, while just over a quarter said NHS payments had caused financial difficulties, the C+D Salary Survey found.

"The category M reduction of prices and clawbacks make it very difficult to predict cash flow," said one contractor. Another described how "the lag in adjusting prices plays havoc with our cash flow".

"Undoubtedly, many contractors are struggling with cash flow," said NPA chief executive Mike Holden. "The current funding model's partial dependence on Cat M retained margin and the spreading of the global sum over 1,500 new contracts goes a long way to explain this in England. But the cash-flow pressures exist elsewhere too, acutely so in Northern Ireland." 

Numark managing director John D'Arcy said it was "essential" for contractors to "examine carefully how they are buying and do [everything] possible to manage costs".

Almost half of contractors responding to the salary survey said they were dissatisfied with their personal income from their pharmacy business, roughly equal to the proportion that saw their income decrease over the last year.

Of the dissatisfied contractors, 61 per cent blamed the Department of Health, with the remainder blaming neutral negotiating bodies for failing to secure good enough pharmacy contracts.

Almost half of contractors had been forced to either open a new overdraft or extended an existing one.

More results of C+D's Salary survey 2012 will be revealed online and in the October 27 and November 3 editions of C+D.

For more results, comment and news from the Salary Survey 2012 as well as tools including a salary calculator, wheel of blame, interactive map and employed/locum comparison calculator and much more click here