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Department of Health Faces Severe Criticism from High Court over Funding Cuts Despite NPA and PSNC Cases Being Dismissed

on Thursday, 25 May 2017.

As this long awaited High Court judgment was revealed, the community pharmacy sector sighed a deep sigh of disappointment as it was announced that...

... the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) and Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee's (PSNC) judicial review cases against the Department of Health's planned cuts to the community pharmacy budget had been dismissed.

It is not, however, all bad news. Despite the cases being dismissed, the presiding judge for the High Court, Judge Justice Collins, stated that although he could "with some regret" not quash the decision, he was persuaded by the case for community pharmacy.

The key reason for the judgment going against the NPA and PSNC was that it would not have made any difference if the Department of Health would have gone about things a different way and the legal test for judicial review was too high a threshold to be passed here - the court could only intervene if the Department of Health decision was so unreasonable that nobody properly informed could have come to it.

The judge went on to express sorrow that the cuts would inevitably produce some hardships for individual pharmacies. He criticised the Department of Health and said "different means might have been better" and the Department of Health’s failure to provide key analysis to PSNC was "regrettable" and "unjustified". The Judge also commented that "[it] is equally unfortunate that the goodwill which existed between the PSNC and the Department has been lost."

As a result, despite the disappointment with the decision to dismiss, the NPA and PSNC saw the positives coming from the comments made by the judge. NPA Chairman, Ian Strachan, stated that "[w]e have…established an important legal principle, namely that the Health Secretary must now have serious regard to the duty to reduce health inequalities when making decisions about the NHS… This is a watershed moment for pharmacy policy. The flaws in the current Treasury-led approach have been exposed. We can now focus on changing the direction of policy going forward, and put the matter of the current funding settlement in its proper context".

PSNC Chief Executive, Sue Sharpe, confirmed that although the PSNC were disappointed with this result, the judgment highlighted some "serious criticisms of the consultation process and of the Department of Health".

The judge also raised concerns over the letters sent to the Prime Minister in August 2016 from the Secretary of State and the Chancellor which the Judge described as inaccurate. In the letters, they said £2.8bn was spent dispensing around £7.2bn of drugs. This totally disregarded the valuable services pharmacy provides beyond dispensing.

Comment 

It was encouraging to see the judge recognise the value of community pharmacy in the healthcare system in adding value in a cost effective way. It is a matter of deep concern that the government and the Civil Service have failed to appreciate the excellent services that community pharmacy provides to the public, beyond simply dispensing, when appraising the sector.

The future of community pharmacy and the benefits that it brings to healthcare delivery to the public depends on the sector getting this message across and being valued for all that it does to enable better health outcomes more cost effectively.


For further information, please contact John Zucker in our Pharmaceuticals & Life Sciences team on 01923 919 310.

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