Introducing the new Scottish contract

摘要

Community pharmacists in Scotland will begin to work under their new contract in April 2006.But it will not happen all at once.Instead,a phased implementation is planned over the subsequent year.The contract is effectively a single tier,consisting of four core services that all community pharmacists must provide.National specifications will also be drawn up for additional services,provision of which is to be agreed locally,but the focus is on the core services.Since the publication of"The right medicine - a strategy for pharmaceutical care in Scotland"in February 2002,pharmaceutical care has moved up the agenda."The right medicine"stressed the need to make better use of pharmacists' skills and to develop quality pharmacy services.The commitment to this has been demonstrated by the growth of pharmaceutical care model schemes across Scotland.