The Act Part 3: Pharmaceutical Care Services Etc. New section 2CB – Functions of Health Boards: planning of pharmaceutical care services
77.Subsection (1) provides the Scottish Ministers with broad regulation and direction-making powers that will prescribe the arrangements by which Health Boards will prepare, publish and keep under review plans that will enable them to discharge their duty under new section 2CB(1).
78.Subsection (2) gives examples of what the regulations under subsection (1) may cover and includes identification of what pharmaceutical care services are required in a Health Board’s area, whether there is convenient access and where provision of those services is considered inadequate. It also includes the periods in which Health Boards are to prepare, publish and review their pharmaceutical care services (PCS) plan; and the consultation process by which the PCS plan is prepared and ultimately made available to public.
79.Subsection (3) gives the Scottish Ministers power to publish in directions what criteria ought to be considered in the identification by the Health Boards of the matters in subsection (2)(a) in preparing a PCS plan. For example, the directions might require Health Boards to compare the locations of NHS community pharmacies and GP surgeries relative to and the size and proximity of populations they serve and their pharmaceutical care service needs.