Last month, PSNC said it had “discussed proposals from the Department of Health and Social Care (DH) on changing the system for setting price concessions” at a committee meeting.

The negotiator agreed key principles” for a “fair” system of price concessions, including that “any data used to set prices must relate to the period for which a concession is given”, and “PSNC must be able to challenge proposed price concessions”, it said at the time.

PSNC announced today (February 26) that the DH is “trialling a new” concessionary prices system, “based on gathering timely data from manufacturers”.

Current system is “unsatisfactory”

“The existing system, in which the DH asks wholesalers about current prices, is unsatisfactory,” PSNC director of pharmacy funding Mike Dent said today.

“Using current data from manufacturers as well as wholesalers may provide a better evidential basis, but we need to see if it can be used as part of a system that does deliver reimbursement of what pharmacies are having to pay,” he stressed.

C+D has contacted the DH for more details of the new system.

The announcement comes as the DH and National Assembly for Wales agreed concessionary prices for 38 items for February prescriptions (see below).

PSNC has applied for a similar number of concessions for February as in January, – when 68 were agreed – the negotiator said.