A local pharmaceutical committee (LPC) has urged PSNC to review the new medicine service (NMS) after a survey of its contractors confirmed they were unhappy with the service's payment structure and are struggling with administration and patient recruitment.

Sixty-six per cent of respondents to central Lancashire LPC's survey branded the NMS payment structure "very poor", with 28 per cent rating it "poor". When asked how they found admin for the service, 40 per cent said it was "bad" and 48 per cent said they were "indifferent" to it.

"We are pushing hard for an early and satisfactory resolution to the problem" Alastair Buxton, PSNC

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The LPC has written a letter to PSNC warning that contractors' concerns must be addressed "speedily" and asking the committee to give "an indication" as to when the problems will be resolved. PSNC said it was in discussions with NHS Employers on the matter and was "pushing hard" to secure a solution "as quickly as possible", but no timescale has been given for the completion of these negotiations. Central Lancashire LPC chairman Raymond Lee told C+D: "The general consensus is that NMS was the right thing to do, but there seems to be a need now to review the service."

Mr Lee added that many pharmacists had not been paid for work they had carried out because of the payment system. "The survey indicated that funding didn't seem to be fair because of the banding structure," he said.

PharmaBase, the IT system devised by PSNC to support the recording of NMS and other service interventions, also came in for sharp criticism, with only 10 per cent of those taking part in the LPC survey saying they found the system "good" and 38 per cent billing it "bad". More than half of respondents said they were not using the system and the LPC said contractors had said it was "not user friendly" because of incompatibilities with PMR systems.

In response to the findings, Alastair Buxton, head of NHS services at PSNC, said the problems pharmacists were having with NMS needed to be resolved as quickly as possible to avoid tarnishing its success. "Clearly it's not acceptable for contractors to provide the service without being paid," he said. "We are in active discussions with NHS Employers and are pushing hard for an early and satisfactory resolution to the problem."

Mr Buxton told C+D that PSNC was also continuing to develop PharmaBase in response to feedback from users. "A number of changes to the NMS module will be made over the next few weeks which will increase functionality," he said.

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