The Welsh pharmacy negotiator has given contractors a “short levy holiday” to ease the “sustained pressure on contractors’ finances”, it announced last week.
Community Pharmacy Wales (CPW) said its board had agreed to introduce a “temporary three-month suspension of CPW levy payments”, with no levy deductions to be made from contractor payments on October 1, October 30 and December 1.
It decided to suspend the levy payments “in recognition of the serious financial challenges facing the community pharmacy sector” and the “difficult operating environment confronting pharmacies across Wales”.
Read more: Almost two-thirds of pharmacies in Wales worse off than last year
It noted that the benefit to contractors will be “modest” and acknowledged this “cannot resolve the wider funding pressures affecting the sector”.
“In the spirit that every little helps, the board believes that temporarily suspending the levy is the least CPW can do to demonstrate practical support,” CPW said.
It added that the board was “clear that offering this levy holiday is absolutely the right thing to do”.
“Unacceptable and unsustainable”
Independent Pharmacies Association (IPA) chief executive Dr Leyla Hannbeck said the body welcomes “any support for contractors financially at this time”.
“This is great recognition from the negotiating body understanding the financial situation for all contractors,” she added.
Read more: ‘Incredibly difficult’: Welsh pharmacies owing £2m to be sold
And National Pharmacy Association board member for Wales Dave Thomas said Welsh pharmacies “are under intolerable financial pressures”.
“It is good then that CPW have stepped forwards to provide some relief to pharmacies during this time,” he added.
“The government must now also provide pharmacies with a much-needed stabilisation payment, similar to the one offered to GPs, as well as long-term sustained funding increases to prevent the closure of pharmacies in Wales.”
Read more: Gold: 95% rate Welsh common ailments service ‘excellent’
C+D approached CPW for comment on how much it expects Welsh contractors to save from the levy payment suspension.
It comes after CPW’s latest Pressures Survey revealed that almost two-thirds of Welsh pharmacies’ financial positions have “worsened compared with the previous year”.
And it follows C+D reporting in July that two Welsh pharmacies were to be bought out of administration after “an incredibly difficult period”.
