#PSC10YearsTrading
Unsurprisingly, our ninth year of trading was dominated by one thing – the Covid 19 pandemic. In common with every other aspect of our lives, the profession went though some seismic changes as a result of the pandemic, some of which were temporary and others which still affect contractors to this day.
As the rest of the world locked down, pharmacies continued to trade and became a vital source of healthcare support and advice for the public. However, the professional was not immune to the problems caused by Covid and we have seen a very tough couple of years within the sector.
One of the first issues to impact on our work was the closing down of the Market Entry system from March to June 2020. All applications, whether for new contracts, relocations or even changes of ownership were put on hold while NHS staff were redeployed to assist with the pandemic response. Obviously, this caused significant problems for some of our clients who were unable to proceed with plans that had been months or even years in the making.
However, given that most contractors were focussed on the day to day running of their pharmacies, it was recognised by NHS England that many had no choice but to put their plans on hold so it was agreed that the ‘clock would be stopped’ for applications that had already been approved. This meant that the usual time constraints to proceed with a granted application did not apply, so there was no risk of approvals lapsing due to the pandemic. There would also be a later change to the regulations (after the Market Entry pause had ended) to allow an increase in the period to proceed with a granted application from the previous 6-months to 12-months. This allowed for ongoing pandemic related delays to matters such as shopfitting and GPhC premises registration.
Whilst the pharmacy appeals process continued, one important change was in respect of oral hearings which, like many other aspects of our lives, moved from face to face to online. Whilst we are yet to see any participants in these hearings transformed into talking cats, there have been a few unusual moments including, in one case, the committee chairman pausing the hearing as he had a visitor ‘popping round’.
Other significant changes to regulations included emergency provisions to allow contractors to provide pharmaceutical services ‘flexibly’. This included allowing temporary closures and amendments to opening hours (including 100 hour pharmacies). These provisions are expected to come to an end in February 2022 (although there is still a possibility this may be extended further given the emergence of the omicron variant).
One of the other major talking points for contractors was the ‘Covid advance payments’, where £370m was ‘loaned’ to contractors in England between April and July 2020 to cover Covid costs. Whilst the PNSC argued that the loans should be written off, the Department of Health took a different approach and required contractors to make a detailed claim in summer 2021 for additional costs incurred during the pandemic, then clawing back the loans over a 6-month period from October 2021.
Whilst Covid related matters kept us very busy over the year, some work was able to continue as usual, most notably ongoing disposals by both Lloyds Pharmacy and Well who continued to instruct us to sell branches that were no longer viable for them.
Here’s a recap of years 1 – 8
