At a break-out session as part of this year’s PSNC conference, Steve Lutener presented on the proposed new control of entry mechanisms to replace the 2005 regulations
There is not space here to go into the details of what Steve had to say, as the new regulations if adopted as proposed are based upon Pharmacy Needs Assessments (PNA’s) and are quite complex, but a few things may be of particular general interest to contractors and would be contractors:
1. The new control of entry legislation has been labelled as the 2012 regulations, so although almost half of 2012 has already passed by, we can reasonably expect a change to be made THIS YEAR
2. New legislation is often enacted on quarter days (1st of January, April, July, & October) so it would NOT be surprising to see the new rules enacted as of July 1st or October 1st
3. There seems to be no certainty over interim regulations, i.e.: what will happen to pharmacy contract applications made before the new rules come into force, but not decided by that time. (this will be of most concern to 100 hour contract applicants as further 100 hour pharmacies look certain to cease under the new regulations
4. PSNC are providing funding for some LPCs, who wish to legally challenge existing 100 hour pharmacies who are not providing 100 hours of service
One thing is pretty certain, is that once the new control of entry regulations come into force there will be a steep learning curve for new applicants and their advisers, and as the new regulations required PCTs to produce their own PNAs, those who did not do a good job of PNA production, possible a third of the total, may face many challenges from would be contractors