Keir Starmer last week (January 8) pledged to review concerns about pharmacies dispensing at a loss after Liberal Democrat MP for Chelmsford Marie Goldman raised the issue during Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs).
“Does the Prime Minister agree with me that no pharmacist should be forced to use their own money to keep their pharmacy viable,” Goldman asked.
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She explained that Dipak, a pharmacy owner in her constituency, was “dipping into his life savings to keep his pharmacy afloat”.
“And I am sure that many other pharmacists across the country are doing the same,” she stressed.
“Business is struggling”
“[Dipak] has sometimes been forced to pay over 100 times more for a particular mental health drug than his contract provides,” Goldman said.
“His NHS contract no longer covers the cost of the drugs he has to dispense,” she added, stressing that his “business is struggling”.
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Starmer said that this is a “really important and challenging case” and acknowledged that community pharmacists “play a vital role in our health service”.
“The Department of Health and Social Care (DH) sets drug tariff prices and regularly assesses what pharmacies are reimbursed to ensure that overall, they are paid fairly,” he added.
And the Prime Minister asked Goldman to share further details of the case to enable “a review” to be carried out.
Call for pharmacy debate
Following this discussion, Goldman called for the government to grant “time for a debate on how our pharmacies can be better supported for long-term viability and sustainability” when speaking in the House of Commons last week (January 9).
But Leader of the House Lucy Powell simply responded that the health secretary “will continue to support our pharmacies and help turn around the terrible situation they face”.
“We are dealing with difficult circumstances that we inherited [following] 14 years of under-investment, industrial action and other problems in the health service,” she said.
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Community Pharmacy England (CPE) chief executive Janet Morrison last week (January 8) said it is “encouraging to see just how much support there is for community pharmacies across both houses in parliament”.
“The concern for MPs and Peers across the political spectrum reflects the impossible situation that pharmacies are in as we begin this new year: we need urgent action from government and the NHS to stabilise the network,” she stressed.
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It comes as pharmacy minister Stephen Kinnock said in October that government drug reimbursement does not aim to price match “every product” dispensed by pharmacists but rather “aims overall to reimburse” pharmacies.
“Community pharmacy reimbursement arrangements do not aim to ensure that every pharmacy is paid as much or more than it paid for every product,” he said at the time.
