DDA lobby heard as dispensing sustainability is raised in Welsh Senedd

The sustainability of dispensing practice in Wales has been debated in the Welsh Senedd, following representation by the DDA.

In a debate informed by a DDA written submission to a Senedd inquiry, Plaid Cymru MS Mabon ap Gwynfor (Dwyfor Meirionnydd) asked: “When you look at the role of GP practices with a pharmaceutical or dispensing element to them, in terms of mitigating those inequalities that we have in the health service, what reforms do you think might be needed to ensure their sustainability within the Welsh general practice model… and is there a role for more dispensing practices?

Adding to the conversation, Dr Neil James, GP in Meddygfa Cwm Rhymni in the Gwent Valleys and chair of Deep End, Cymru, a network of GPs, healthcare professionals, and partners working in deprived communities in Wales noted: “There seems an inequity about dispensing practice, because it's a means of generating income in a practice, but why should one practice have that availability and another practice not meet the requirements, just by geographical quirk?”

In support, Fellow Deep End Cymru representative Dr Jonny Currie said: “Rurality has its challenges… rural practices get dispensing pharmacies [sic], understandably because otherwise, where are you going to go to get your medicine and your prescriptions? And that dispensing fee that the practice gets supplements their income, so it's another added [income stream].”

The debate also picked up on DDA concerns around implementation of the EPS in Wales. John Griffiths MS (Welsh Labour, Newport East) asked the Welsh Senedd Health and Social Care Committee: “What steps you are taking to ensure that those dispensing GP practices, and particularly those in rural areas, are included in digital transformation?”

However, dodging the specific issues around dispensing practice access to the EPS, Sam Hall from Digital Health and Care Wales responded: “We have taken a decision to slow that process of rolling out EPS so that we can focus on moving everyone to the new GP system.” He added that NHS Wales aimed to complete the move to the new system in May next year and that so far, around one third of GPs were active in electronic prescribing.

Read the DDA briefing paper in the online library of political lobby documents: Dispensing Practice in Wales: Addressing the Disparities

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