Alliance Healthcare and Alphega Pharmacy have lauded the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) for accepting a revised offer from the government which will now allow pharmacists across England to claim their Covid-related costs.
The new deal is a significant improvement on the government’s original proposal which was rejected by PSNC last summer.
Julian Mount, managing director at Alliance Healthcare, said that it is important to recognise the role of community pharmacists in improving the health of patients across the UK and to create a proper reimbursement structure for them. Particularly, since the start of the pandemic, pharmacy customers and patients have recognised pharmacists, who have remined open throughout the crisis, as the frontline for the NHS, he added.
He said: “It is great news that now the Department for Health and Social Care is seeing this value too, and we appreciate the hard work from the PSNC and government to support community pharmacy, and we hope to see it go even further.
“The next stage is how we look at the further integration of community pharmacy in England into the primary healthcare team – with autumn on the horizon, winter aliments, flu vaccinations and Covid-19 boosters – we need to ensure the treasury recognise the contribution of pharmacy.”
Raj Nutan, head of Alphega Pharmacy UK, said: “Notwithstanding the issues surrounding the advance payments, overall, we recognise the work PSNC has done in getting a decision.”
He noted that Alphega Pharmacy will wait for a detailed guidance from the PSNC about the reimbursement process.
