{"id":9504,"date":"2011-04-05T17:34:46","date_gmt":"2011-04-05T15:34:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/?p=9504"},"modified":"2011-04-07T20:53:49","modified_gmt":"2011-04-07T19:53:49","slug":"nhs-reforms-%e2%80%93-3-%e2%80%93-stop-gps-dispensing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/2011\/04\/05\/nhs-reforms-%e2%80%93-3-%e2%80%93-stop-gps-dispensing\/","title":{"rendered":"NHS reforms &#8211; 3 &#8211; stop GPs dispensing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>After a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/2011\/04\/04\/the-nhs-reform-we-need-1\/\">couple of rather long blogs<\/a> on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/2011\/04\/05\/nhs-reforms-%e2%80%93-2-get-rid-of-the-market\/\">NHS reforms <\/a>it\u2019s time for some simpler ones.<\/p>\n<p>One glaringly obvious reform that the NHS must undertake is to ban GPs from operating dispensaries from which they can profit.<\/p>\n<p>In rural areas many GP practices can dispense to their patients even though a perfectly good dispensing chemist may be available for those patients use nearby.<\/p>\n<p>The practice is unacceptable for three reasons. First, such dispensaries are unlikely to challenge the doctor's judgement and so a valuable level of double-checking of prescriptions is lost.<\/p>\n<p>Second, these dispensaries are - <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pulsetoday.co.uk\/story.asp?storyCode=4007746&amp;sectioncode=23\">more likely to supply branded <\/a>rather than generic versions of drugs, as there is a greater profit margin for the dispensary when a branded version is prescribed \u00e2\u20ac\u0161 and the doctor benefits from that at cost to the NHS.<\/p>\n<p>Third, such dispensing undermines the viability of pharmacies in rural areas when such pharmacies are essential if a full range of health services is to be provided.<\/p>\n<p>It's wrong that GPs gain from prescribing too much, or non-generically, when the patient does not gain.<\/p>\n<p>It's wrong that GPs can claim this subsidy when already well paid when almost invariably there are commercial services available nearby.<\/p>\n<p>And it's wrong that patients lose the protection of an independent pharmacist.<\/p>\n<p>All three are sure signs that, regrettably, GPs cannot be trusted to commission in their patient's interests. Lansley got that wrong.<\/p>\n<p>Dispensing GPs tend to make at least \u00a320,000 a year more than non-dispensing GPs. This has to stop in the interest of patients.<\/p>\n<p>It's a simple reform, but an essential one.<\/p>\n<p>Disclosure: I am married to a (non-dispensing) GP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After a couple of rather long blogs on NHS reforms it\u2019s time for some simpler ones. One glaringly obvious reform that the NHS must undertake<br \/><a class=\"moretag\" href=\"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/2011\/04\/05\/nhs-reforms-%e2%80%93-3-%e2%80%93-stop-gps-dispensing\/\"><em> Read the full article&#8230;<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[128],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nhs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9504","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9504"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9504\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}