With reports of GP earnings for 2006/7 due to fall by 7 percent, and a further 7 percent in the year 2007/8, Dr Richard West, chairman of the Dispensing Doctors’ Association, added to the gloom by confirming that dispensing GPs’ earnings were also likely to drop considerably.
‘In the last nine to 12 months, PCTs have been pushing for a change from branded drugs to generics. Category M (the pricing reimbursement structure for 90 percent of generic drugs) has pushed prices down.
‘The dispensing envelope did not increase in 2006/7, and staff still want a pay increase,’ he added.
Asked how practices should minimise earnings drops in 2007/8, Dr West advised practices to maximise their dispensing list, making sure that none of the patients are missing off it, and to try to contain expenditure.
jacki.buist@haymarket.com
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