Prescriptions
(asked on 29th January 2025) - View Source
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will review the reimbursement system for (a) pharmacies and (b) GP practices dispensing medicines.
Consultation with Community Pharmacy England for the 2025/26 Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework has started and will include reviewing the allowance for medicine margin as part of funding, and any further changes to the reimbursement arrangements.
The Department has previously reviewed the reimbursement arrangements for community pharmacies which lead to a consultation on several improvements in 2019. The consultation response was published in November 2021, and is available at the following link:
There are currently no plans to review the reimbursement system for general practices (GPs) dispensing medicines. Dispensing practices receive a dispensing fee, approximately £2.00 to £2.30 per item, which is intended to cover dispensing costs. This fee is calculated based on forecasted volumes of prescriptions to be dispensed and the size of the funding envelope, according to a methodology agreed by the Department, the General Practitioners Committee (GPC), NHS Employers, and the Welsh Government.
An updated methodology was agreed between the British Medical Association and NHS England to address the issue of continuing fluctuation between over and underspend year on year, the alternating pattern of over and under spends, and implemented in October 2023.
The Department and NHS England started consulting with the GPC England, of the British Medical Association, on the 2025/26 GP Contract on 19 December and will consider all proposed policy changes, including dispensing practices. An announcement will be made before April 2025.