The Government has imposed a two-year funding package on community pharmacy, with a £113 million reduction in funding in 2016/17.
This will take total funding to £2.687 billion for this financial year. This is a reduction of 4% compared with last year, but it will mean that contractors will see their funding for December 2016 to March 2017 fall by an average of 12% compared with current levels.
This will be followed by a reduction in 2017/18 to £2.592 billion for the financial year, which will see funding levels from April 2017 drop by around 7.5% compared with current levels.
PSNC will shortly be publishing indicative income tables to help contractors to predict the impact on their businesses.
As part of the package the Department of Health (DH) will make changes to the way in which funding is distributed, introducing quality payments and a Pharmacy Access Scheme (PhAS). Further information on these and on which pharmacies will be eligible for the payments is outlined in PSNC Briefing 057/16: Information for Contractors.
The Government has also recently announced a pharmacy urgent repeat medicines supply pilot along with plans to refer NHS 111 callers with minor ailments to pharmacies. The service specification for this is still under discussion but further details are also available in PSNC Briefing 057/16: Information for Contractors.
The imposition, which was announced by minister David Mowat in Parliament today (October 20th), comes after PSNC unanimously rejected the package last week.
For more information, including related PSNC Briefings and a statement from PSNC Chief Executive Sue Sharpe, please visit: ow.ly/Ypcy305mCOk