FUNDING


be £77,215,165. Sixty per cent of staff payroll costs were from branches belonging to the multiples, with 30 per cent from branches belonging to independent contractors.


• on average, 85 per cent of staff costs were allocated to health and social care (hSc), with the total staff payroll coming to £64,469,903


• total property costs for community pharmacy branches were estimated to be £27,480,009. Sixty four per cent of property costs were for branches belonging to the multiples and they totalled £17,682,122.


• Rent was the largest component of property costs at 54 per cent, followed by business rates at 20 per cent, utilities at thirteen per cent and repairs and maintenance at ten per cent.


• total other branch costs (including uncategorised costs) were estimated to be £23,974,251. Stock obsolence at 18 per cent and retail distribution at fourteen per cent were the two largest individual cost categories. twenty-two per cent of other costs were in categories outside of the ‘top ten’, which indicates a large number of other costs.


• the total head office cost for community pharmacy services in NI was £20,734,267, of which 99 per cent came from the multiples, and the other one per cent from small chains. Almost 70 per cent of head office costs were from four activities, namely professional services, distribution, Ict and property costs.


• the average head office cost per branch for small chains was £2,740, of which 83 per cent was allocated to hSc. the average head office cost for multiples was £86,371, of which 35 per cent was allocated to hSc.


So, with coSI now ‘out there’, where does this leave NI community pharmacy now?


well, thanks to pif’s straw poll of pharmacists, the answer would appear to be ‘pretty much where we were’. So many of you are currently


in England hasn’t been able to move on the establishment of an NI Drug tariff, it hAS managed to make three separate cuts in fees!


here are just a few of your views…


Richard Garvey Meigh Pharmacy, Meigh ‘Although I welcome the results of the coSI report, it gives a general cost into providing services and does not look at how one pharmacy's costs are out of line with another's. for


‘the Ulster chemists’ Association


welcomes the results of coSI being made public and looks forward to them


informing the contract negotiations. of course it will not, however, alleviate the acute pressures being felt by the


community pharmacy network following the category m reductions and


concessionary price delays which are really hitting contractors in NI very hard indeed’


struggling with category m and clawbacks that you’re firefighting on a daily basis and don’t have time to focus on the longer-term view at the moment.


the inertia of the Assembly, which has now led to a return to power in london, was dismissed by many of you as incidental, with many saying that, while the Department of health


example, I run two similar sized pharmacies, one of which has annual rates of £6000 and the other £20000. Bearing in mind that 78 per cent of independent property costs are associated with hSc and 20 per cent of these costs are associated with business rates, hSc-associated business rates relief may be a way to help neutralise this variation.’


Raymond Anderson Andersons Pharmacy, Portadown ‘the question is not 'was it worth it?' but rather ‘what do we do with it?’ It should give us a base to move forward and develop our services, however in England the Department of health seems to think of a figure and enforce it, so that doesn’t build confidence.’


Cliff McElhinney Urban Pharmacy, Belfast and President UCA ‘the Ulster chemists’ Association welcomes the results of coSI being made public and looks forward to them informing the contract negotiations. of course it will not, however, alleviate the acute pressures being felt by the community pharmacy network following the category m reductions and concessionary price delays, which are really hitting contractors in NI very hard indeed.’


Sheelagh Hillan Randalstown Pharmacies Ltd ‘I am particularly disappointed by coSI since my pharmacy was one of those chosen to be visited and observed. By the time they left that day, I felt that they not only understood exactly how much we do, but also appreciated the amount of regulations that had to be complied with. I also felt that they understood that we were poorly remunerated for what we do and that our front of counter was subsidising NhS services. None of this has been reflected in the coSI findings and the responsibility that we carry has been ignored.’


commUNItY phARmAcY REmUNERAtIoN 2018/19 the health and Social care Board (hScB) has announced its proposals for the community pharmacy pay offer for the 2018/19 financial year. hScB has said that a working assumption is that, in line with other public pay, there will be an increase of between zero and one per cent, and has put forward three global Sum options.


Global Sum Option 1 – 0% uplift – Global Sum remains at £54.42m Option 1


professional Allowance ordinary Dispensing fee multiple Dispensing fee total – option 1


Budget


£9.83m £39.70m £5.98m £55.52m


Fee Level


£18.3K per practice £0.98 £0.38


0% growth Global Sum Option 2 – freeze fee levels at 2017/18 levels Option 2


professional Allowance ordinary Dispensing fee multiple Dispensing fee total – option 2


Budget


£9.83m £39.70m £6.3m


£55.52m Fee Level


£18.3K per practice £0.98 £0.40


0.5% growth


Global Sum Option 3 – an increase of one per cent for the global sum element, or £0.6m. In this option it is proposed that fee levels remain the same and that the additional £0.3m is made available to be negotiated as part of pharmacy contract discussions. hScB is now seeking the views of community pharmacy Northern Ireland so that a new fee structure can be implemented for April 2018.


phARmAcY IN focUS - 7


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