NHS England will give the average contractor a cash injection of more than £2,000 in this month's payment, PSNC has announced.

The "welcome bonus" would be calculated as an extra 3.3p for every professional fee claimed by a pharmacy between April and December 2014, PSNC said today (March 23). It estimated that the average pharmacy would receive between £2,000 and £2,200 as a result.
 

The payment is in recognition of the fact that the amount available to reimburse contractors for medicines fell in the early months of this financial year and is likely to be lower than intended. PSNC had agreed that NHS England would hold £800 million of margin income to reimburse contractors, but analysis had suggested that this total was “unlikely to be reached”, it said.

The final outcome of the margins survey would not be available until later in the year, it added.
 

PSNC chief executive Sue Sharpe said: “Financial pressures and income volatility continue to be a problem, driven by the instability of prices and supplies.

"PSNC is pleased that we were able to secure this payment in advance of the final [calculation of the] margin."
 

Rise in practice payments and thresholds

The negotiator also announced that practice payments would rise 4.4p to 53.5p per item from April, while the threshold for practice and establishment payments would increase by 2.9 per cent, PSNC said.
 

The 4.4p increase was designed to rebalance the 17p drop in practice payments introduced in November as part of the 2014-15 funding settlement, PSNC said. It should “ensure smooth delivery of funding” for the coming year and would be reviewed once a settlement for 2015-16 had been agreed, it said.
 

The rise in the threshold for payments was a recognition of increasing prescription volumes and was in line with “routine annual increases”, it added.

 

 

How will the funding changes affect your pharmacy?

 

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