Just 2,557 or 23 per cent of pharmacies in England claimed payments for the first month of the new medicine service (NMS), NHS Prescription Services records have revealed.

Some 73 per cent fewer pharmacies claimed NMS payments in October than claimed payments for medicines use reviews (MURs) in 2010-11, according to NHS PS data.

NMS: many claimed interventions were not paid for

Pharmacists could abandon NMS over payments GPs give mixed reaction to new medicine service Download the NMS payment data Try C+D's NMS payment calculator More on NMS…

10,121 NMS interventions were claimed for in October 2011, but the figures suggest that NMS uptake has not been as rapid as expected, despite PSNC's estimate in November that as many as 70 per cent of pharmacies could be ready to provide the service. The data also suggests that there were difficulties with NMS targets, as it appears many pharmacies completed interventions but were not paid, probably because they did not reach their allotted goals.

Across 15 PCTs, 334 interventions were claimed for but no payment was made by the PCT. And the data revealed that NMS payments per intervention varied widely across the PCTs, with Milton Keynes pharmacies receiving the equivalent of £21.08 per intervention on average, compared with £1.32 in Telford and Wrekin.

National Pharmacy Association head of information services Leyla Hannbeck said: "Since the launch of the NMS, the NPA information department has been listening to members voicing their concerns and dissatisfaction about the payment structure.

"Many pharmacists feel disheartened to provide the service when often they receive no payment. We have urged PSNC and NHS Employers to sort this out, so that pharmacists are not left out of pocket or discouraged from providing this much needed patient service."

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