It added: “However, the data evidences that there were actually 1,625 reported closures of CCA member pharmacies in Scotland over that period. “Based on the number of pharmacies owned (53 per cent non-CCA/47 per cent CCA) it would therefore be proportionate if the CCA members had reported closures due to genuine reasons on 102 full or part-day occasions during that same five-month period,” said PDA. It’s suggested an introduction a regime of financial sanctions on any businesses that breach standards and asked to provide the NHS the ultimate option to take failing pharmacies into special measures control, where the operation of that pharmacy is taken over by NHS.īased on the actions of those who have taken commercial decisions, regardless of the potential patient impact, to unnecessarily close their branches, the PDA believes these measures are now what is required to adequately protect patients and provide communities with access to the pharmacies they rely upon.ĭata provided to PDA in response to Freedom of Information requests in Scotland shows that the largest pharmacy businesses closed branches for full or part of days at more than 15 times the rate of other community pharmacies.ĭata from NHS health boards in Scotland show that during the first five months of 2022 (1 January – 31 May) non-CCA member pharmacies reported 114 occasions across Scotland that they had to close due to unforeseen events. The PDA has concluded that to protect patients, and ensure their ongoing access to pharmaceutical care, regulators in the UK should empower the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA) to regulate the business behaviours of companies that operate community pharmacies, including their premises, staffing levels, safety, and treatment of patients. The PDA has also noted a rapid evolution of closures as some pharmacy owners have seemingly become emboldened as no effective action or penalties to stop the closures has been taken by government, regulators, or the NHS (the main customer that commissions and funds the community pharmacy contracts). “While a small number of unforeseen closures have always occurred from time to time in pharmacies for genuine reasons, the indiscriminate scale at which closures have now become commonplace seems to have evolved over the last 20 months.” The association believes it is only a matter of time before serious harm to patients’ health will be caused by the decisions of mainly large chains of pharmacies to close some of their branches for all or part of a day, instead of engaging an available pharmacist to cover their agreed opening hours. If patients’ access to NHS services is to be protected from the consequences of avoidable full or part-day pharmacy closures.” In its letter, PDA said: “The minister of health must now ensure the regulation of poor business behaviours and be prepared to take over rogue pharmacies, however large their corporate owner may be. The Pharmaceutical Defence Association (PDA) has urged health ministers of the UK to take a strict and necessary action against the unnecessary closures of pharmacy.Ĭoncerned over the rising number of pharmacy closures, PDA has written an open letter to health secretary Steve Barclay Robin Swann, health minister for Northern Ireland Eluned Morgan, minister of health and social services for Wales and Humza Yousaf, the Scottish health secretary.
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