Pharmacy contractors should conduct extra checks on their prescriptions before submitting them for payment following July's changes to the drug tariff, PSNC has advised.

PSNC recommended that pharmacists spent "a little extra time" ensuring all their prescriptions were correctly endorsed and produced a submission check guide to help explain the changes.

PSNC recommended that pharmacists spent "a little extra time" ensuring all their prescriptions were correctly endorsed	More on prescription payments Pharmacists face financial strain under new drug tariff Methadone changes could cost pharmacists up to       £90,000 a year Specials drug tariff error leaves pharmacist £465 out       of pocket
	Contractors will need to check pack size endorsements, FP10MDA dispensing endorsements, broken bulk endorsements, out-of-pocket (OOP) claim endorsements and red separator sorting. PSNC reminded pharmacists that they no longer needed to give a total for their OOP expenses, as NHS Prescription Services will now check individual prescriptions for OOP claims and make payments based on endorsements.

All prescriptions containing OOP claims need to be put in the red separator when bundling, so that handlers can check and authorise the claims, PSNC said.

The advice followed concerns from pharmacists over the changes, with a straw poll suggesting that 80 per cent of C+D readers expected to be worse off under the new drug tariff. The revised methadone payment system provoked a particularly strong reaction, as some contractors estimated it would cost them thousands of pounds a year.