Contractors must submit Community Pharmacist Consultation Service (CPCS) claims within six months of completion of a referral as the NHS Business Services Authority (NHS BSA) cannot process later claims, according to the CPCS service specification.

However, data obtained by C+D through a freedom of information (FOI) request has revealed that 2,440 pending claims for consultations carried out between December 1, 2019 and April 30, 2020, were not submitted to the NHS BSA in time.

According to an NHS BSA data analyst, the pending claims “equate to, potentially, £34,160 that contractors could have claimed for CPCS consultations”.

An average of 302 contractors a month had pending claims for CPCS consultations at the end of each six-month claiming window.

C+D revealed last year that more than 1,000 transactions that “may have been claims” for CPCS activity carried out in the month following the launch of the service were not submitted in time to the NHS BSA.

PSNC: “Disappointing” contractors are “missing out”

Commenting on the FOI results, PSNC director of NHS services Alastair Buxton told C+D earlier this week (March 16) that the negotiator is “disappointed that some contractors are not claiming for – and are therefore missing out on payment for – work they have undertaken for CPCS”.

“PSNC has issued guidance, reminders and a deadline tracker on the claiming process, including informing contractors of the need to review the claims that are created on the Manage Your Service (MYS) platform when data is transferred from PharmOutcomes or Pinnacle,” Mr Buxton added.

PSNC will “continue to assist contractors who have questions or need support regarding payment claims”, he said.

The unclaimed funding will be “redistributed to contractors via the contract sum”, for instance, through other service fees, Mr Buxton added.

C+D asked Mr Buxton if an alert system to remind contractors of their pending claims should be introduced.

“The team at PSNC regularly feeds back to the NHS BSA on ways to improve the usability of MYS, with reports from contractors used to inform our feedback. Such alerts may be beneficial for some if these are feasible within the MYS platform,” Mr Buxton said.

Contractors made 60,316 claims to the NHS BSA between December 1, 2019 – the first month from which pharmacies could start claiming for CPCS referrals – and November 30, 2020, according to a freedom of information (FOI) request by C+D.

NHSBSA NHS Prescription Services Manage Your Service (MYS) system, NHSBSA Copyright 2021

Every day this week – March 15-19 – C+D will be analysing the Community Pharmacist Consultation Service (CPCS) a year into its launch. Read all the coverage in the dedicated hub and join the conversation on the C+D Community.