Written Ministerial Statement 18 June 2009
In a written ministerial statement given on 18 June 2009, Mike O’Brien, Minister of State, outlined progress made on some of the proposals contained within last year’s Pharmacy White Paper, Pharmacy in England: Building on Strengths – delivering the future.
Summary of the key features of the Written Ministerial Statement 18 June 2009
1. Market Research Report: Community Pharmacy Use
The Medicines Pharmacy and Industry Group in the Department of Health commissioned research about community pharmacy use to support policy development for the pharmacy White Paper. The report is available on the DH website and will be of benefit to commissioners of pharmaceutical services. The next phase will be a campaign plan to improve awareness and understanding of the roles of pharmacy in providing services
2. Announcement of a Regulatory Advisory Group
As part of the proposals to reform current primary legislation, a Regulatory Advisory Group to be headed up by Mr Paul Burns will be established, subject to Parliamentary approval of the Health Bill provisions. The terms of reference for the group are:
“ to consider and advise on, and to help the Department devise, regulations to implement a duty on NHS primary care trusts to develop and to publish pharmaceutical needs assessments and on subsequent regulations required to use such assessments as the basis for determining the provision of NHS pharmaceutical services.”
3. 100 hour pharmacies
The statement confirmed that there are to be no changes to the regulatory framework for 100 hour pharmacies at this time.
The Written Ministerial Statement can be found here.