PLANS to charge for prescriptions put forward by the Health Minister have been hit with a mixed response from local pharmacists – with one suggesting the proposals should warrant his resignation.
In Saturday’s JEP, Senator Tom Binet said he “did not believe” free prescriptions had ever been a “wise” policy and suggested a small charge may be needed in future.
“I don’t know what the cost of processing a prescription is, but I know I can get paracetamol for about 70p in the supermarket,” he explained.
“Those sort of bad practices need to stop, so I think we might have to have a prescription charge. It doesn’t have to be a fortune, but it’s a contribution. I think when people get things for free, inevitably they get abused.”
Stephen Orme, of Le Quesne Pharmacy, said he believed the minister’s comments showed a lack of understanding of how the system works and that this, in his view, was enough to warrant resignation.
“Alarmingly, Senator Binet said: ‘I don’t know what the cost of processing a prescription is.’ The Senator has been the Health Minister for two-and-a-half years – he should know exactly how much it costs to ‘process’ a prescription,” he said.
“Processing is a particularly vague verb,” he continued. “If the minister is asking how much does it cost a pharmacy to ‘dispense’ a prescription, the answer is that all pharmacies are paid a dispensing fee of just £3.96 and we are expected to use this very small sum to pay for all our employees’ wages, our rent, our electricity, etcetera.
“The government pays the doctor who prescribes the paracetamol £50.28. No one disputes the training and knowledge that a doctor possesses but it would be interesting to know why the government values doctors twelve times more than they value pharmacists.”
The pharmacist also criticised the minister’s reference to supermarkets.
He pointed out that supermarkets are restricted to selling packs of up to 16 paracetamol tablets, while pharmacies can supply up to 96 tablets and provide professional advice.
“Not only can members of the public buy more paracetamol tablets at a pharmacy, they have the benefit of being able to talk to the pharmacist to get advice,” he said, adding: “The public should be advised to go to supermarkets to buy fruit and vegetables and to go to pharmacies to buy medicines.”
He argued that the minister’s remarks reflected a long-standing tendency for governments to undervalue the role of pharmacists.
Sara Kynicos, head of care and superintendent pharmacist for the Channel Islands Coop, said there were important details to be considered in reaching a decision.
“There are potential benefits of reintroducing prescription charges, particularly if it helps reduce unnecessary medicine waste, which appears to have further increased since the introduction of 90-day prescriptions in Jersey,” she said. “It is important that focus is given by government to ensure that broader healthcare funding meets the growing needs of Islanders and all potential options for revenue generation and cost savings should be reviewed.
She added: “It is important that any approach is fair and does not place additional pressure on those Islanders who are already struggling or who rely on regular medication.
“Given the current cost of living challenges facing many Islanders, the timing and design of any changes will be crucial – we would not want to see people discouraged from accessing the essential medicines they need or vulnerable members of our community being unfairly impacted.
“We would also not want an excessively burdensome administration process, particularly if already busy pharmacies are required to collect payments on behalf of the government.”
Pharmacists have long campaigned for greater recognition for their role in Jersey’s healthcare system.
In 2023, the then-Social Security Minister Elaine Millar agreed a £12 million package of investment in community pharmacy – the first major boost for the sector in many years, with the government having previously failed to keep funding in step with RPI.
The funding was designed to help pharmacies recruit and train staff, expand clinical services and support pharmacists to become independent prescribers, while also increasing the fee paid for dispensing prescriptions.
However, a review by the government spending watchdog published earlier this year warned of ongoing challenges.
Comptroller and Auditor General Lynn Pamment found that the Health Insurance Fund – which pays for GP subsidies and free prescriptions – was “not sustainable in its present form”.
While ministers accepted her recommendations to tackle medicines waste and improve prescribing practices, they deferred a review into whether pharmacies are being paid the correct amount for dispensing medicines.
The auditor found there was currently “no objective evidence” that dispensing fees reflected the true cost to pharmacies, warning they could either be underfunded or overcompensated.
