NEWS
ABPI WORKS TO IMPROVE
TRANSPARENCY The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) launched a database which discloses payments made to UK healthcare professionals (HCPs) and healthcare organisations (HCOs) on 30 June 2016.
This work is part of a Europe-wide initiative to improve openness and transparency and the UK database will publish details of ‘transfers of value’ from pharmaceutical industry to HCPs and HCOs including:
• Event registration fees
• Event travel and accommodation costs
• Fees and expenses for consultancy or services
• Payments for research and development activities
• Payments for activities such as sponsorship of programmes
and initiatives
Initially the data will cover 2015 ‘transfers of value’, however it is intended to be a live database and will be updated on an ongoing basis by ABPI. The database will also include aggregate data in some circumstances.
Members and HCOs for whom ABPI have received payment data will have received communications from ABPI so that they can log-in and view the data in advance.
ONE PER CENT PAY AWARD FOR HEALTH STAFF
The Health Minister, Michelle O’Neill, has confirmed a one per cent pay award for NI health and social care staff. Over 55,000 staff - including hospital medical and dental staff, doctors and dentists in public health and the community health service will receive the uplift, which was recommended by both the NHS Pay Review Body and the Doctors and Dentists Pay Review Body. Business Services Organisation is working to include the uplift and arrears in staff’s pay by early autumn.
4 - PHARMACY IN FOCUS NI PHARMACY WELCOMES
ALLIANCE HEALTHCARE SPECULATION HAD BEEN RIFE FOR MONTHS BUT ALLIANCE HAS FINALLY ANNOUNCED THAT IT WILL BE ENTERING NORTHERN IRELAND AS A FULL LINE DISTRIBUTOR ON 1 AUGUST.
in terms of frequency of delivery, product availability, delivery accuracy, timeliness and reliability, all at competitive prices, whilst also offering customers innovative added-value services which help pharmacists develop their own businesses.
To facilitate is arrival, Alliance Healthcare has already established a service centre in Belfast, employing local people – probably around 100 in total – which is great news for the province’s employment figures.
‘Our primary aim is to build relationships with NI pharmacies,’ Jeremy Main continued. ‘In order to do this we have to integrate our company and our services into the local scene and so, to do this, we intend to create an indigenous enterprise.
Well, it’s been months in the planning and the rumour mill had gone into overdrive, but Alliance Healthcare finally laid all of the rumours to rest this week by announcing that it will enter the province on 1 August as a full line distributor of pharmaceutical, medical and healthcare products.
The company has, of course, had a presence in Northern Ireland for almost ten years, having been awarded distribution of Pfizer products in 2007 and, as a result, establishing a strategic partnership with local wholesaler, United Drug Sangers. This strategic partnership flourished over the last ten years and was only brought to a conclusion by Sangers’ purchase by global pharmaceutical wholesaler, McKesson, part of their 407.5 million acquisition.
The increased competition and choice is great news for the NI economy in general and NI community pharmacy in particular.
‘As the UK’s leading pharmaceutical
wholesaler,’ said Alliance UK’s Managing Director, Jeremy Main, ‘the decision to enter Northern Ireland is a natural fit for Alliance Healthcare, and strengthens our offering in the wider UK market. We are excited about the opportunity to provide customers in Northern Ireland with greater choice and to increase competition in this limited market.
‘We are committed to providing a locally-based full line offering, creating jobs and revenue for the economy, while focusing on providing pharmacists with the reliable, twice- daily service they need. This is a fantastic opportunity for us, and for the local community.
In the United Kingdom, Alliance Healthcare currently operates in England, Wales, and Scotland delivering to more than 16,000 pharmacies, hospitals and dispensing doctors twice daily. Working in partnership with the leading manufacturers, the company is focused on ensuring customers and their patients get what they need
‘As a company, we firmly believe in the concept of competition being of primary importance to the customer. By entering NI we have increased the number of distributors from two to three, and this has been positively received by pharmacists. We intend to speak to local pharmacists on a one- to-one basis to find out exactly what they’re looking for and to hear their ideas about what is required in the NI market.
‘While we wish to introduce fresh and innovative ideas to the market, we do, of course, have an obligation to existing service contracts, and so, from the outset, we will be consolidating the business that we have here – putting patient safety at the heart of our service of course – and simultaneously introducing innovative measures and practices. There will be a period of assessing what we can bring to the market to attract pharmacists to come to us.’
PiF looks forward to how the arrival of Alliance Healthcare will impact NI’s community pharmacy. Over the next few issues, we’ll watch how the company implements its plans for the province’s community pharmacy, and how it forms new strategic partnerships, not this time with a local distributor, but with pharmacies themselves.
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