Government to restore £15m per month Category M funding

The £15m per month funding for community pharmacists has been reinstated following talks between the government and the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee.

Mike Dent, director of pharmacy funding at the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee

The government has, for the time being, reinstated the £15m per month funding it cut from Category M reimbursement for community pharmacists in England in August 2017.

The move follows successful negotiations between the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and community pharmacy national negotiators, the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC)

The money will go back into the reimbursement pot this August, the PSNC announced on 19 July 2018.

But it warned that the £15m could be taken out again later in the year as the DHSC continues to recover the “over delivery of margin” paid to pharmacies in the 2016/2017 financial year.

Mike Dent, director of pharmacy funding at the PSNC, said:
The decision to cease margin recovery in the short-term in light of PSNC’s representations about contractors’ cash flow is very positive and reflective of the collaborative relationship that we are trying to rebuild with the DHSC.

“The PSNC will be working, through the negotiations on funding and in discussions with the department, to get the best possible deal for contractors and to ensure that any future mechanisms to correct margin delivery are as manageable as possible in terms of cashflow.”

The PSNC also pointed out that “underlying Category M prices will continue to be based on manufacturers’ data” that means that prices will continue to “reflect the lower purchase prices that led to the additional reduction in prices seen in the July tariff”.

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Citation
The Pharmaceutical Journal, Government to restore £15m per month Category M funding;Online:DOI:10.1211/PJ.2018.20205209

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