The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) launched its CheckRx tool yesterday (August 15), which it claims turns “complex” data released monthly by the NHS into “business-friendly information”.

As part of the service, individual pharmacies can check how they fare against their competitors in areas such as: dispensing volume; which local GP practices prescriptions are issued from; electronic prescription service (EPS) nominations, and medicines use review (MURs) and new medicine service (NMS) levels.

London contractor and former RPS president Ash Soni said CheckRx would be “quite useful” to see if pharmacies perform “well, bad or indifferently” against local competitors. “It’s manageable information I've not had as an independent pharmacy,” he said.

Increased target pressure

However, Mr Soni warned that the tool could lead to independent pharmacies experiencing similar target pressures to those reported in certain multiple branches.

“Pharmacists [might] feel they’re being targeted if they’re only doing 15 MURs compared to the branch down the road completing 30,” Mr Soni told C+D.

It is "difficult to tell" whether this scenario would become a reality at this stage, as "it depends on how [contractors] use the information", he pointed out.

CheckRX is intended to be a companion to Check34, which PSNC launched last year to help contractors spot dispensing trends, the negotiator said.

The latest tool can also be used to provide detailed information on how pharmacies are paid for each item they dispense, including FP34 payments and drug tariff splits, it added.

Greater transparency

Hertfordshire contractor Graham Phillips told C+D that anything that kept prescription payments “moving in the direction of transparency must be good”.

Mr Phillips said the system would "even the playing field".

The large multiples probably have access to this information already, "whereas the independents are just flying by the seat of their pants most of the time", he said.

The National Pharmacy Association (NPA) is handling subscriptions to CheckRx, PSNC said. A year’s subscription to the tool is £144 per pharmacy, plus VAT, or £120 for NPA members, it added.