To qualify for the Quality Payments Scheme – through which businesses can claw back up to £6,400 in funding a year – a pharmacy must provide at least one specified advanced service; have an up-to-date NHS Choices entry; use EPS; and have the ability to “send and receive NHS mail”.

How much money a pharmacy can earn from the scheme depends on the number of “points”, each worth £64, it scores out of a possible 100 (see table, here).

AAH said its quality payments tool, which it launched on its website on December 12, allows its customers to create a “tailored report” that identifies any points criteria they are not currently meeting.

​The head of AAH's customer department Dawn Williams told C+D: “We recognise that this is a tough time for independent pharmacies, and so... we just want to point them in the right direction and let them know what support is available.”

On Monday, PharmOutcomes released its own tool, which allows all contractors to track their progress in meeting the points criteria. It also provides links to Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) webpages providing extra detail on each criteria.

To access the PharmOutomes tool, click on the 'services' tab once you have logged onto their website homepage.