• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • News
  • Education
  • Events
  • Interviews
    • Career spotlight
  • Opinion
    • Professional Dilemmas
    • Patient perspective
  • PIPcast
  • Jobs
  • Business Directory

Pharmacy in Practice

EDX/20/1154
Date of prep: December 2020

Prescribing information and
adverse events reporting

For healthcare professionals only

Independents say wholesaler surcharges are unfair

6th December 2020 by PIP editor Leave a Comment

 

The results of a National Pharmacy Association (NPA) member survey released today indicate that the majority of independent pharmacies believe their mainline wholesalers have an unfair system of pricing for surcharges.

 

Most also say that there is inadequate flagging to avoid inadvertently triggering a charge.

 

Alarmed at continuing complaints from members about aspects of medicines supply, the NPA ran the survey throughout November.

 

Nearly 7 in 10 respondents said their mainline wholesalers apply surcharges that are not clearly justifiable and proportionate.

 

Only one in 10 believed that quotas are allocated equitably, either sometimes or always. Most reported that the number of products on quota has increased over the last six months.

 

Some respondents stated that they felt national chains do not have the same problems as independent pharmacies and are given preferential treatment when it comes to obtaining stock.

 

78% said that they have “issues” with Alliance Healthcare surcharges, more than twice the number for AAH and Phoenix combined. This in part reflects the respective market positions of these three wholesalers.

 

This is the third Wholesaler Service Standards survey run by the National Pharmacy Association. The survey in 2018, 2019 asked members to score their wholesalers according to a set of markers, including markers for efficiency, customer service and fairness. The latest survey is a smaller, snapshot survey, aimed at finding out more about supply issues in the context of COVID-19.

 

The number of pharmacies represented in the survey was 118.

 

NPA public affairs manager, Neil Bhayani, said:

 

“The size of the survey is small, but clear themes did appear, which we want to explore further with pharmaceutical wholesalers. The majority of the complaints we get are about surcharges. We will be asking wholesalers to listen to their independent customers and to review their policies on surcharges.”

 

 

Related

Next article  GPhC say assessment is an 'essential step' towards registration

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Wholesalers

Register for our upcoming webinar and live Q&A

About PIP editor

Pharmacy in Practice is a UK pharmacy publication with its roots in Scotland.

Reader Interactions

Begin the discussion right here Cancel reply

Primary Sidebar

Categories

PIP business directory

Letters to the editor

Letters to the editor

Pharmacists should not have to bend the rules

Community pharmacists can identify high-risk asthmatic patients

‘PRN’ medicines like Tramadol should never be on repeat

Pharmacy technicians could help reduce medication waste

More letters to the editor here...

Blogs

💊 PIP live pharmacy blog

Winter stresses must not ‘destabilise’ general practice

What is it like to depend on medicine to treat endometriosis?

Opinion

Why is pharmacy not integral to government mass vaccination plans?

Pharmacy Covid-19 vaccination involvement is a ‘no-brainer’

The great patient medication returns debacle

CPD Challenges

💊 CPD Challenge: How well do you understand pulmonary embolisms?

💊 CPD Challenge: Prescribing and dispensing clozapine

💊 CPD Challenge: Oral anticoagulants – Dabigatran

More CPD challenges here...

© 2021 · About Pharmacy In Practice · Site mantained by Mike

This site is for healthcare professionals, please confirm you are a healthcare professional to continue.

YES

Pharmacy In Practice uses cookies, by continuing to use this site we will assume you are ok with that Find out more.