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HoC Answers - 21.11.08
General Practitioners: Pharmacy
Mark Simmonds (Conservative, Boston & Skegness)
To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if he will take steps to ensure that the availability of over-the-counter medicines from GP dispensing practices proposed in the Pharmacy White Paper does not affect the viability of community pharmacies in non-rural areas;
Mark Simmonds
(2) what form the peer review audit of the Medicines Use Reviews (MURs) by primary care trusts proposed in the Pharmacy White Paper will take; and whether general practitioners will have a role in selecting patients for MURs.
Phil Hope (Minister of State for Health)
Consultation on a number of proposals for legislative and structural reform to national health service pharmaceutical services arising from the White Paper "Pharmacy in England: Building on strengths-delivering the future" closed on 20 November 2008.
This included five options to permit the sale of over the counter medicines by general practitioner dispensing practices. We published our assessment of the impact of these proposals, including on other providers such as pharmacies, alongside that consultation. We are updating these assessments in the light of responses received. We will decide which, if any, option to pursue after full consideration.
The White Paper makes clear we are concerned that the provision of Medicines Use Review (MUR) services is currently geared to rewarding the volume of MURs undertaken. NHS primary care trusts are concerned that MUR services are not being targeted to local needs
and patient priorities and that their quality is inconsistent. We believe it is necessary for MUR services to be prioritised to meet health needs. NHS Employers and the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee is therefore discussing a mechanism for delivering this objective and ensuring funding rewards health outcomes. We hope general practitioners will support the local development of MUR services by advising on how best health needs can be targeted.
Posted 21 November 2008