Changes to core hours ‘a commercial decision’

It will be a commercial decision on the part of pharmacists as to whether they change their core opening hours voluntarily following changes to GPs’ surgery hours, it has been claimed.

The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) has suggested that changing hours could result in pharmacies opening their doors in situations where their income generated through dispensing does not cover the cost of being open.

“Where the time cannot be used constructively for other non urgent pharmacy activities … the pharmacy contractor may decide that voluntary additional opening cannot be justified,” the organisation noted.

Such activities may include finishing paperwork and preparing repeat prescriptions, it added.

Recently, the Department of Health released a guidance document for local dispensers in which it addressed low-volume pharmacies.

It suggested that Local Pharmaceutical Service contracts could be useful in ensuring services continue to be provided in areas which are less profitable.

Such contracts allow primary care trusts to commission local pharmacies in order to meet the needs of the area.