The Department of Health and Social Care has decided upon some regulatory changes which will allow 100-hour pharmacies to reduce their opening ours by more than a quarter. This decision has not been rolled out to all pharmacy contractors i.e., ones with fewer contracted hours.
This new regulation comes into play on the 25th of May which means that 100-hour pharmacies can reduce their core hours down to 72 hours a week. They have to do this through a notification process with the local health board and ensure they provide services between 5pm and 9pm during Monday to Saturday and 11am to 4pm on a Sunday.
Another change to the Terms of Service will see that any changes being made to rest breaks due to changing opening hours, will also need to follow a notification process. Breaks cannot be longer than 60 mins nor can they be taken in the first three hours of opening or during the last three hours before closing.
PSNC has commented that this change will help the 100-hour pharmacies, there is no benefit to the 40-hour pharmacies which makes up 90% of the pharmacy sector. Any changes such as this should be matched across all pharmacy contractors as they are al facing the same industry pressures.
Many pharmacists are not impressed by this change and argue that by taking away the 100-hour contracts actually puts more pressure on the NHS and Department of Health and Social Care – the opposite of what its designed to do. There was a time when 100-hour pharmacy contracts where like gold dust if you had one and now with this change it is irrelevant if it’s not a compulsory requirement anymore.