According to 190 respondents to a National Pharmacy Association (NPA) survey conducted earlier this year, a “high proportion” of pharmacists feel that wholesalers “don’t respond adequately to queries and complaints”.

While 34% of respondents said wholesalers have a fair pricing system for surcharging, 70% believe quotas are not allocated equitably, the NPA said last Friday (October 25).

In 2014, the NPA created a set of service standards, which independent pharmacies said were reasonable to expect from wholesalers, and asked its members to rate their wholesalers against the standards in both 2014 and 2019.

Commenting on the latest survey results, NPA head of corporate affairs Gareth Jones said although improvements have been made in “some areas”, there is “still a high level of dissatisfaction” among independent pharmacies about the “standard of service” they receive from wholesalers.

Staff working for wholesalers are generally rated as being courteous to pharmacists and pharmacy staff. However, many independent pharmacy teams “feel they are not always treated fairly”, he added.

Managing shortages

According to the survey results, respondents spend an average of 6-10 hours per week managing stock supply issues, although the NPA said it “recognises that the causes of supply problems are multifaceted” and therefore may be “outside of the wholesaler’s control”.

A C+D investigation this month found that shortages in every major category of medicines are affecting pharmacists across the UK, with two in five pharmacies spending more than an hour a day dealing with medicine shortages.

The NPA will work with the Healthcare Distribution Association (HDA) – which represents the UK's largest wholesalers – and other pharmacy bodies “to try to tackle the issues that our members have identified”, Mr Jones said.

“Some relatively small changes from their perspective can make a big difference to our members on the frontline.”