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Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has increased the rate of discount deduction for generics from 17.52 per cent to 20 per cent. The Drug Tariff for April 2023 will contain changes to the discount deduction arrangements for pharmacy contractors, which will include- all concession lines to be considered as Group Items for Discount Not Deducted i.e. DND or zero discount (ZD) items; and rate of discount deduction for generics to increase from 17.52% to 20% The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) and DHSC agreed on the changes for all concession lines to be considered as Group Items for Discount Not Deducted. Therefore from 1 April 2023, a new category will be introduced into Part II of the Drug Tariff 'Drugs for which discount is not deducted'. However, the committee had rejected the changes in the rate of discount deduction for generics. It said, "Following pressure from NHS England, Ministers have now chosen to impose changes to the previously agreed discount deduction arrangements, which come into effect from 1 April, and will be kept under review."

With the Pharmacy First services scheduled for launch end of this month, legislators explored the potential of community pharmacies to offer specific diagnostic and treatment services in the second public evidence session of pharmacy inquiry this week (January 16). The new service, which will enable pharmacists to offer advice and prescribe treatment for seven minor ailments, is expected to alleviate the pressure on the NHS, reduce GP workload, and cut waiting lists. But MPs and healthcare leaders also acknowledged that there's hesitancy and the mindset of 'GP first, not Pharmacy First' among members of the public. "We must accept that many patients are used to seeing their GP as their first port of call for many health conditions. Pharmacy First is welcome, but there are going to be some restrictions on how quickly some patients will want to take up some of those services, rather than seeing their GP," said William Pett, Head of Policy, Public Affairs and Research, Healthwatch England.

Researchers from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) have been tasked to evaluate the impact, safety and effectiveness of the Pharmacy First service, which was launched across England in January 2024. They have been awarded £2.4million by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) to generate evidence on the new service that allows pharmacies to provide advice and treatment for seven common conditions without the need for a GP appointment. After consultation, if necessary, a community pharmacist can supply some prescription-only medicines to treat earache, sore throat, sinusitis, impetigo, shingles, infected insect bites or uncomplicated urinary tract infections in women. The LSHTM researcher team will be working together with experts at the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and the Universities of Oxford, Manchester and Nottingham on the project. Dr Rebecca Glover, assistant professor in Antimicrobial Resistance at LSHTM, who will lead the three-year project, said they will evaluate "Pharmacy First's impact on GPs and the wider NHS, pharmacy services and patients."

A pair of pharmacist brothers, who also own a popular restaurant in Kent, have started an innovative initiative 'Jabs with Kebabs' to encourage their community in England to come forward and take their Covid-19 vaccines. Rav and Raj Chopra, who own V's Punjabi Grill, an Indian restaurant in Gravesend, established the walk-in vaccine site after their father, Jagtar Chopra, became unwell with Covid-19 last year. The duo is among thousands to volunteer for the National Health Service (NHS) vaccine programme. Talking to the PA news agency, Raj said he was inspired by the experience of his father, who got infected with the virus and has fully recovered since then. "From a personal point of view, it was very debilitating to see Dad like that," said Raj Chopra. "It got everyone's emotions in play.

The Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) has begun conciliation with 86 pharmacy companies to safeguard the interests of former LloydsPharmacy pharmacists. The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas), a government agency, serves as a mediator between companies and employees to resolve disputes. If the ongoing mediation prove unsuccessful, individual employees retain the option to file claims in the employment tribunal, the PDA has said. The ongoing dispute centres around employers potentially failing to conduct the required consultation under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) regulations (TUPE) with employees and their representatives during employee transfers, the PDA said. The TUPE legislation, known for its complexity and technical nature, applies when a section of the company, like a pharmacy sold as an asset using standard disposal, undergoes a transfer. According to NHS England's recent pharmaceutical list, LloydsPharmacy has either sold or shuttered 461 branches since September 2022. According to NHSE data, as of June 30, the pharmacy chain operates approximately 512 pharmacies in England. This positions it as the third-largest chain after Boots UK and Well Pharmacy.

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) has appointed Laura Wilson as Director for Scotland commencing 23rd January 2023. Laura, is currently Policy and Practice Lead for RPS in Scotland. She is accountable for bringing national RPS policy to life for members in Scotland, while contributing to the GB wide professional leadership agenda. She will work closely with the Scottish Pharmacy Board, senior NHS officials and other key stakeholders across the breadth of the pharmacy profession and beyond to ensure pharmacy is on the forefront of healthcare in Scotland. She joins the existing team of RPS Country Directors, which includes Elen Jones, Director for Wales and James Davies, Director for England and will report directly to the Chief Executive. Laura Wilson said: "I am delighted to be appointed Director for Scotland having worked as part of the RPS Scotland team as the policy and practice lead. It will be an honour to continue the fantastic work started by former Director Clare Morrison to bring Pharmacy 2030, our vision for pharmacy in Scotland in the future, to life and supporting pharmacy teams to deliver person centred care.

The Community Pharmacist Consultation Service (CPCS) will be expanded to enable urgent and emergency care settings to refer patients to a community pharmacist for a consultation for minor illness or urgent medicine supply from Monday (15 May), the DHSC and NHSE said. The service builds on the progress made in GP referrals via the CPCS and hospital referrals under the Discharge Medicine Service. It was originally planned to launch in March, and fee for this service will be the existing CPCS fee of £14, as per the agreement for both year 4 and year 5 of the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF) 2019 to 2024 5-year deal. In an update on the CPCF, published today (12 May), the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and NHS England (NHSE) has also committed to the 4 October 2023 launch date for the Tier 2 of the Pharmacy Contraception Service, subject to a positive evaluation of the pilot. The Tier 1 of the service was launched on 24 April, delayed by over three months. This new service enables community pharmacists to provide ongoing management, via a patient group direction (PGD), of routine oral contraception that was initiated in general practice or by a sexual health clinic. The fees for this service are as follows: a fee for each consultation of £18; and a set-up fee of £900, paid in instalments. The Tier 2 will "enable community pharmacists to also initiate oral contraception, via a PGD, and provide ongoing clinical checks and annual reviews," Alette Addison, deputy director for pharmacy, dental and optical at the DHSC and Ali Sparke, director for dentistry, community pharmacy and optometry at the NHSE, said in a letter.

The National Pharmacy Association (NPA) has commissioned Professor David Taylor of University College London to investigate the implications of all-time high inflation rates on community pharmacies in the UK. Professor Taylor's will assess rates of inflation affecting community pharmacy across the UK, using public data sources whilst examining inflated costs in the context of the current five year contractual framework in England (2019-2024). He would review the EY (Ernst & Young) report into pharmacy funding, to identify whether current inflationary pressures could change any of the findings and consider the policy implications and impacts of inflationary pressures, including pharmacy's ability to prepare for a more clinically focused future and maintain current core services. NPA chief executive Mark Lyonette said: "Inflationary pressures are eating into the limited funds provided by the NHS for pharmacy services. We believe the real level of inflation for pharmacy businesses could be higher than the CPI inflation rate, which itself is at a 40 year high. Staff and locum costs in the sector as well as medicines costs have risen dramatically.

All adults aged 50 years and above are eligible for free flu jabs in England under the autumn Covid-19 booster programme, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has announced. "The flu virus could also be highly infectious at this time of year, so I am also announcing that those eligible for a free flu vaccination this year will include everyone aged 50 and over, primary school children and secondary school pupils in years 7, 8 and 9, as well as people in clinical risk groups, unpaid carers and household contacts of those who are immunosuppressed," said new health secretary Steve Barclay. Commenting on the DHSC's announcement, CCA chief executive Malcolm Harrison said: "We welcome the decision to accept the advice of the JCVI on who can have free Covid-19 boosters and flu jabs this autumn. Community pharmacies have turbo-charged the Covid-19 vaccination programme over the past 18 months and last year we witnessed the most successful community pharmacy flu campaign ever."

Our Totton branch has an incredibly high volume of original pack dispensing, roughly 45,000 items. As we became busier and busier in the dispensary we were finding that our pharmacists, dispensers and other technicians simply didn't have capacity to deliver the services that we needed them to. We all know there is a real emphasis right now on pharmacies doing more services and we knew we had to change the way we operate to survive. So we decided it was time to look into a sound automation solution for our medication dispensing process, one that would allow us to free up the time of the pharmacists and the rest of the team so they could better support patients. After a lot of research we invested in Centred Solutions FLOWRx Hub and InStore solutions which were installed late last year. It provides us with the whole package and has automated our entire dispensing process from picking to packing and labeling to checking. Our situation was quite unique as we bought the system initially for our existing high-volume pharmacy in Totton so the hub and the spoke are actually on the same site. People wouldn't usually look at a hub and spoke solution for that kind of set up but it has allowed us to significantly free up time in store for more services. What it has also done is allow us to look at other opportunities to grow and expand. The pharmacy landscape is changing and there are lots of opportunities coming up. We have found that having your technology and the right infrastructure in place to support your existing footprint before you expand is the ideal way to grow in a safe and controlled way. We never thought that five years ago we would buy another pharmacy, yet we have already bought one and are now in the process of buying two more. I'm not worried about the increase in volume this expansion will bring because I know our technology is going to be able to support it. The pharmacies we are buying are struggling but having our solution already in p

The Competition and Markets Authority(CMA) has disqualified a former director of the pharmaceutical wholesaler Lexon for allegedly breaking competition law. Pritesh Sonpal - who has been accused of illegally sharing commercially sensitive information with competitors - will not be allowed to take up any director role or be involved in the management of any company based in England, Scotland or Wales for four years. The CMA in March 2020 found that Lexon - along with the pharmaceutical companies King Pharmaceuticals and Alissa Healthcare Research - illegally shared commercially sensitive information about the antidepressant nortriptyline, used by thousands of NHS patients, to inflate the price. Lexon was fined £1.2 million for breaking competition law. The government watchdog said between 2015 and 2017, when the cost of the drug was falling, the three companies exchanged information about prices, the volumes they were supplying and Alissa's plans to enter the market, in order to reduce competition.

The British Generic Manufacturers Association (BGMA) has warned of the significant implications for future supply as a result of the crippling VPAS rate. The warning comes after the association's judicial review into the Government's decision to bar it from being a full part of the negotiations for the next five-year VPAS period was dismissed. The voluntary scheme for branded medicines pricing and access (VPAS) is an agreement between the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), NHS England and The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI). The scheme aims to limit increases in spending on branded medicines to no more than 2% per year via a rebate system which is charged on companies' sales revenues. Two years ago, the rate was 5.1%, but in 2023 it has soared to 26.5%. All biosimilars and a proportion of the generics market falls into the scheme.

Pharmacy professionals to be included as key stakeholders in the implementation, delivery and evaluation of a wide range of genomic services, said the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS). RPS's statement has been developed in collaboration with pharmacy organisations who have co-badged the report, such as the British Oncology Pharmacy Association, the UK Clinical Pharmacy Association, Association of Pharmacy Technicians and the College of Mental Health Pharmacy. It looks at current and future roles for pharmacy professionals in genomic medicine across many aspects of practice such as person-centred care and collaboration, professional practice, education, leadership, management and research. Pharmacists and pharmacy technicians in the UK have already established roles in the application of genomic medicine in some areas of practice, such as antimicrobial stewardship and infectious diseases, and the management of certain genetic conditions, such as cystic fibrosis. The society believes, the current role of pharmacy professionals in genomics can be expanded upon in the future to both lead and support many relevant aspects of genomic implementation. These are described across all healthcare sectors, within the Genome UK strategy produced by the UK Government, and within the implementation plans published in England, Scotland and Wales. Lead for Pharmacogenomics at RPS Sophie Harding said: "Pharmacy professionals are the gatekeepers of medication safety and efficacy across all areas of healthcare. They are skilled at interpreting complex scientific data and use evidence-based medicine to maximise the benefits of treatments for patients, whilst supporting shared decision-making with patients and the multidisciplinary team.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was questioned whether he 'will take urgent action to prevent pharmacy closure'. At Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs) in Parliament held on Wednesday (26 April) he replied, "we will continue to do everything we can to support community pharmacies." Labour MP for Knowsley and All-Party Pharmacy Group member, George Howarth said: "Given the chronic lack of capacity in the NHS, the Prime Minister will be aware that community pharmacy can help deal with minor illnesses. But there is a problem on average 10 Pharmacy close every month in England." Prime Minister was further asked "will he take urgent action to prevent further closing and commission a properly funded 'Pharmacy First' service for minor illnesses? Sunak replied: "I've been a wholehearted champion and believer in the role that community pharmacists can play. we want to make sure that they can do everything to ease some of the pressures in primary care.

The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC)'s members are seeking immediate rescue packages for the sector to help with energy bills and to ease capacity constraints. In a meeting held on 14th and 15th September, the committee members expressed their anger and frustration on the reluctance of NHS England and government to fund pharmacy sustainably. The meeting was held to consider practical steps to ease the pressures on the community pharmacy sector, and to oversee the progress of negotiations on the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF) and other work. Committee members, as pharmacy contractors, shared their experiences of the current pressures on all contractors, including the inability to deliver some services and to maintain core service levels; the capacity and workforce crises facing the sector; the critical need for funding support this winter; and the urgent need for Government to adapt the Price Concessions system to meet the needs of contractors. "The Price Concessions system is no longer working for contractors in the current volatile medicine supply environment and PSNC is clear this is not acceptable," said the committee.

Lack of appropriate funding is making survival a massive challenge for community pharmacy, a sector relied upon as a vital support system by both primary and secondary care in England. The Telegraph newspaper ran a story on Monday (August 22) which highlighted the dire straits community pharmacy finds itself in. Seasoned pharmacist Ian Strachan told the paper: "Our four pharmacies were the only point of call that was open (during Covid). We were there every single day, even when the virus was prevalent and people were dying." Describing the current situation, he said: "What is happening is we're facing a system that's just not working at all in our favour." Strachan says the issue is that pharmacists are "just not getting the help we need to be able to do this job properly". The sector is hugely dependent on funding from the NHS. The government had agreed in 2019 to set £2.6bn as annual funding for the sector. However, according to a report from EY that amount was already down £200m on the 2016 levels of government funding. "We've been starved of appropriate funding since 2016," Dr Leyla Hannbeck, chief executive of the Association of Independent Multiple Pharmacies told The Telegraph. "It looks grim for businesses. The fees pharmacists get are going nowhere, but now, there's higher utility bills, higher staff fees and higher drug costs."

Speaking at the SIGMA Conference 2023, Dr Leyla Hannbeck, CEO of the Association of Independent Multiple Pharmacies (AIMp), spoke about the increasing number of prescriptions, lack of funding and other existing challenges. Leyla explained how the pharmacy sector is facing immense challenges which are disrupting the delivery of services as well as impacting its growth. She further spoke about the hub and spoke model, and how it is unable to solve the issues. "Community pharmacies are clogged with prescription volume, and this is preventing them from supporting the wider NHS as well as offering services," she said. She said that the prescription volumes have rocketed, while the number of pharmacies in England has declined from 11, 522 in the year 2021-22 to 11, 414 in 2022-23. When it comes to Company Chemists' Association (CCA) pharmacies, there has been a loss of 1055 branches from 2022 to 2023.

The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) has shared materials to help community pharmacy in communicating relevant advice to people during this heatwave. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has issued a heat-health alert for the next few days. It has also published a beat the heat poster, along with its heatwave guidance, which could be used in pharmacies to raise awareness. "During this heatwave, the public may turn to community pharmacy teams for advice about staying well during the hot weather or to seek assistance when feeling unwell because of the heat," PSNC said. It has previously developed materials that may be used by community pharmacy teams to communicate relevant messages contained in the Heatwave Plan for England and the NHS website guidance on how to cope in hot weather.

Two pharmacies in Rotherham are set to merge into one, if plans are approved by NHS England. Weldricks Pharmacy has applied to merge its two Swinton branches, on Church Street and the Crown Street Surgery. If approved, the branch on Church Street will be modernised, and additional consulting rooms will be added, while the Crown Street site will be closed. Rotherham Met Borough Council's health and wellbeing board are set to make a representation supporting the plans, and say that analysis by public health "outlines the very minimal impact that this change will have in terms of pharmacy access in the borough based on the service offer, opening hours and walking times to this branch and the main pharmacy." They say the current opening hours will remain the same, and there will be no disruption to services during the consolidation. A statement from Weldricks adds that the decision to merge is down to funding cuts, and the company could go out of business if operating costs are not reduced - 'despite having been a local, family-owned business for almost 100 years'.

A full CPE Committee Meeting was organised in London on April 17 and 18, 2024, to discuss crucial sectoral issues. Key topics discussed during the two-day meeting included intolerable pressures on pharmacy owners, the ongoing Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF) negotiations, implementation of the Pharmacy First service, and governance changes. Committee Members reviewed the progress of CPCF negotiations with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and NHS England. These critical negotiations are being led by the Negotiating Team (NT), which includes independent pharmacy owners and representatives of CCA and non-CCA multiples. The CPE has been advocating for an uplift to the core global sum, margin write-offs, an agreed mechanism for regular funding increases linked to activity and inflation, annual uplifts to service fees, more fundamental reform of the margin delivery framework and an economic review of the medicines supply chain. The Committee also discussed the results of the 2024 Pharmacy Pressures Survey, which was conducted during March and April.