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| news > GOVERNMENT CRISIS OF CONFIDENCE ON PHARMACY RULES WILL HASTEN GHOST TOWN BRITAIN - 20/8/2003 | |
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GOVERNMENT CRISIS OF CONFIDENCE ON PHARMACY RULES WILL HASTEN GHOST TOWN BRITAIN A new briefing from nef says that the Government could be about to trigger the slow death of community pharmacies. In an abrupt about face, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has indicated that it will broadly accept proposals by the Office of Fair Trading, despite appearing to reject the recommendations earlier this year. In March of this year Trade Secretary Patricia Hewitt made a surprise announcement hinting that she would turn down recommendations to deregulate the small pharmacies market, at present controlled by guidelines on who can open a pharmacy and where they can open. Echoing the arguments made in an earlier nef report, Ghost Town Britain: A lethal prescription, the Minister told the Commons there were "limits to markets, particularly in the delivery of health services", and acknowledged that such proposals would interfere with government plans to widen the local role of pharmacies within the NHS. Of the UK’s national authorities, the Welsh Assembly and Scottish Parliament have both rejected the proposals but the DTI has now accepted a modified version, effectively a 'deregulation lite' halfway between the current situation and full deregulation. The DTI amendments do not detail the criteria and process the Primary Care Trusts will use to decide on ‘consumer choice’, potentially opening the process to hijack by vested interests and worsening the ‘postcode lottery’ in services Making it easier for pharmacists to locate in large shopping developments is simply deregulation by stealth – there is no detail on how impact will be assessed and no explicit measures to prevent a potentially irreversible loss of essential community services The DTI’s emphasis on new facilities such as mail order and internet access for patient medicine purchasing is a red herring. The key issue for community pharmacies is the service that they offer to the deprived and marginalised – not those likely to have the means to access the “enhanced” services The decision flies in the face of Department of Health’s plans to enhance the role of community pharmacies, and risks making the most vulnerable in our communities pay the price in the race to deregulate - those already on the frontline of Ghost Town Britain. In fact, the role of pharmacies as community assets could be developed beyond the DoH’s vision. “The government had a chance to stand up for principles and not big business profits on the issue of community pharmacies - and throw out the recommendations of the Office of Fair Trading,” said Molly Conisbee, Head of Public Affairs at the new economics foundation and author of Ghost Town Britain: A lethal prescription. “Instead they have opted for 'deregulation lite' - a middle way that benefits no-one, least of all pharmacy users. Once again we see a government that lacks the courage to stand up for locally run services that benefit the most deprived people in our communities. The Welsh Assembly and Scottish Parliament have had the courage of their convictions and rejected the OFT recommendations. Will we be looking at ghost town England rather than ghost town Britain?”
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