The NHS is paying back pharmacists as little as 20% of the cost of some drugs, leaving pharmacies to cover the shortfall with their own money, the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) has warned.
The NPA said that “in some instances”, the NHS paid just a fraction of the price of common medicines including anti-depressants, pain relief and blood pressure medication - with pharmacy owners left “covering the remaining cost from their own pocket”.
It added that this “chronic underfunding” saw pharmacies lose an average of £5.8 million a month dispensing these drugs alone.
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A survey by Community Pharmacy England (CPE) in August found that 45% of pharmacy owners had dipped into personal savings or remortgaged their homes over the previous year to subsidise medicines costs.
The body called on the government to “bring an end to the scandal of pharmacy owners subsidising the bill for the nation’s medicines”.
And it said that “without urgent reform” of the “fundamentally broken pharmacy contract”, drug shortages “will only worsen and pharmacies could be driven out of providing services for the NHS”.
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According to NPA analysis of an average “shopping basket” of medicines, the NHS is meeting just 28% of the cost of blood pressure medication irbesartan, leaving pharmacies with a loss of £4.41 per unit.
The NHS also funds only 28% of the cost of overactive bladder treatment tolterodine, meaning pharmacies lose £10.46 for each unit purchased, it said.
Broken contract
NPA chief executive Henry Gregg said the government “must stop funding pharmacies below the cost price of medicines” and that “no other part of the NHS would tolerate this”.
He added that “just like GPs and dentists, pharmacies are a vital part of the NHS but are forced to deal with an outdated and broken contract in desperate need of reform”.
“We want to work with the government to implement reform and deliver care closer to millions of people, but if this situation continues, there is a real risk that more and more will be forced out of the NHS or have to close altogether,” he said.
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The Department for Health and Social Care (DH) told C+D that community pharmacists “have a crucial role to play as we move more care out of hospital”.
It said it has “increased funding by record levels” and is “expanding the roles of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians to make better use of their skills”.
“We regularly review pharmacy reimbursement to ensure community pharmacies are paid fairly for the medicines they dispense,” it added.
“The overwhelming majority of medicines remain in good supply and to make sure this remains the case, we are investing more in the domestic medicine manufacturing industry.”
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It comes as CPE this week confirmed to C+D that the “business rates disparity” faced by pharmacies will be discussed in upcoming contract negotiations.
CPE chief executive Janet Morrison said the negotiator “will be bringing all relevant topics and evidence” to the talks, including the issue of business rates relief.
