#PSC10YearsTrading
Our eighth year of trading, 2019, saw the announcement of the 5 year community contractual framework (CPCF) settlement that remains in place to this day. This was particularly notable in that it was the first time a funding deal had been agreed that gave the profession some certainty over several years. The intention was to give the sector some stability to enable planning over a longer term.
Whilst the sector welcomed the certainty delivered by the CPCF, needless to say there was disappointment that funding would remain flat over the entire period resulting in a significant real-terms reduction in income for contractors.
For PSC, the year started off by continuing with the disposal of the Boots consortium shares. Some of these transactions turned out to be quite complicated and prolonged but, by the end of that year, the majority of disposals had been completed. They included a mixture of open market sales (including a substantial health centre pharmacy in Wiltshire to an independent contractor) and internal sales of Boots shares to other existing shareholders.
In addition to these sales, we continued to enhance our reputation in the pharmacy sales market selling branches for both large independent and smaller independent groups as well as for individual owners.
As well as pharmacy sales we had a couple of very interesting Market Entry cases this year. These included a ground-breaking transaction where, following a complicated application process and a subsequent oral hearing, we were granted permission to reduce the trading hours of a 100-hour pharmacy. This was achieved by the acquisition of a nearby standard 40-hour contract and subsequent relocation to the site of the former 100-hour pharmacy which was withdrawn the from the pharmaceutical list just prior to the relocation taking place.
Whilst similar applications had been approved previously, others had been refused as NHS England area teams had been taking an inconsistent approach to dealing with these types of applications.
The rationale for approval was laid out very clearly by the Appeal Authority in their decision letter and this set the precedent for many similar transactions handled by PSC, and other parties, over the coming years allowing more 100-hour contractors an opportunity to reduce their trading hours.
Here’s a recap of years 1 – 7
