Wholesalers should only apply extra charges to customers if they are "justifiable", the NPA has said in standards designed to "empower" pharmacists.

Medicines should be delivered in a "timely manner" and any short-dated stock- drugs that could go out of date within the duration of treatment- should be identified on their invoice, the NPA said in standards for wholesalers published today (August 1).

The 22 standards, which were produced following a consultation earlier this year, also address concerns raised by NPA members about drug quotas and communication between wholesalers and pharmacies.

Wholesalers should respond to queries or complaints from pharmacists within three hours and notify the pharmacy at the point of ordering if there was a supply problem, the NPA said in its standards. Pharmacists should also be able to view a written policy on how the wholesaler operated its quotas and be satisfied they were allocated fairly.

The standards would allow NPA members to assess how well their wholesalers were performing by using five markers - fairness, responsiveness, timely communication, efficiency and transparency, it said.

The NPA will ask its members to submit assessments of their wholesalers through the NPA website, which will be used by the representative body to build a "national picture" of whether wholesalers are meeting members' expectations.

NPA public affairs manager Gareth Jones said the criteria would help pharmacists to clearly describe which standards wholesalers were failing to meet, while also acknowledging good service.

"There might be an area where none of the wholesalers are meeting customers' expectations, or it might be just one wholesaler that is not reaching the mark in a particular area," he added.

Under the standards, wholesalers should operate a system that prevents pharmacists from "inadvertently" triggering a low spend surcharge. If, in exceptional circumstances, it is necessary to charge pharmacists more than the drug tariff price, then the wholesaler should agree to accept goods back without invoking a returns surcharge, the NPA added.

The British Association of Pharmaceutical Wholesalers (BAPW) said its members welcomed all feedback on its services from the "key customer group" of community pharmacies.

"We believe BAPW wholesalers and distributors provide a world class, efficient and resilient service. Frequency of delivery and an understanding of customer needs ensure a robust NHS medicines supply chain," said BAPW chief executive Martin Sawer.

	How effective do you think the NPA's standards will be in ensuring wholesalers meet pharmacists' expectations?