NPA Responds To Consultation On Northern Ireland Pharmacy Premises Fees

Main Category: Pharmacy / Pharmacist
Article Date: 17 Nov 2009 - 0:00 PST

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The NPA has opposed any increase in the premises retention, new registration and restoration fees in response to the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety NI Pharmacy document on Pharmacy Premises fees.

In response to "A consultation on the level of fees to be charged from 1st January 2010" the NPA has asked that the proposals to raise the Initial Registration Fee and the Restoration Fee to be in line with the rest of Great Britain should be examined closely. The decision should be based on the costs involved in carrying out these activities in Northern Ireland and if these mean that fees should be raised to these amounts then consideration should be given to how this is done. Given the small number of new pharmacies registered each year the money raised by the increase will be small and consideration should be given to raising the fee in a step wise approach over several years.

Margaret Peycke NPA NHS Information Manager said: "With regard to retention fee: the proposed 19.7% rise is far in excess of inflation over the two year period, any increase in business expense, especially at this time, is unwelcome and eats into the amount otherwise available for patient care. Remuneration and expenses vary markedly across not only the UK but also between local NHS bodies, pharmacy businesses would prefer to pay a fair fee than one which is arbitrarily set to be on a par across the UK."

"Pharmacy owners are subject to inspection by the DHSSPS pharmacy inspectors, however only those elements of the inspection which relate directly to the registration and retention of the premises on the pharmaceutical register should be cost to the premises fee. Elements of inspections relating to monitoring of professional conduct of individual pharmacists must be funded by the pharmacists' retention fee."

The NPA accepts the ideal of a consistency of approach to fee setting by the DHSSPS with the rest of Great Britain however it does not believe that consistency of approach equates to a similar fee structure. A robust fee setting structure should be based on the cost of maintaining the register and inspections; the number of premises registered in Northern Ireland is only a small proportion of the number in the UK and costs involved will be far less. In addition the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain (RPSGB) is also citing the costs associated with splitting the RPSGB into the new regulatory body and the professional leadership body, not a burden being borne in Northern Ireland.

Source
National Pharmacy Association