Community Pharmacy England (CPE) has notified pharmacy teams that starting 1 August 2024, three Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) medicines will be
discontinued and will no longer be covered under the NHS HRT Prescription Prepayment Certificate (HRT PPC) scheme.
These are Bedol® 2mg tablets, Climanor® 5mg tablets and Clinorette® tablets.
Since Climanor® 5mg tablets have been discontinued, Medroxyprogesterone 5mg tablets will also be removed from the HRT PPC list, as this generic product is no
longer available as a licensed HRT medicine.
The CPE also noted that Provera® 5mg tablets, being an unlicensed HRT medicine, are not covered by the HRT PPC.
Pharmacy staff are advised to check the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) website for the most current list of HRT medicines covered by the HRT PPC.
The CPE has updated its HRT PPC medicines list to reflect these changes, which will also be updated in Part XVI of the August 2024 Drug Tariff.
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has introduced a new prescription pre-payment certificate (PPC) for Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) which
is said to benefit around 400,000 women who suffer from negative symptoms of the menopause in England.
PPC will be rolled-out from 1 April and it reduce the HRT costs to less than £20 a year. Women prescribed HRT - the main treatment for menopause symptoms - will
have access to a new scheme enabling access to a year's worth of menopause prescription items for the cost of two single prescription charges (currently £18.70).
As part of commitments to reduce the cost of HRT for menopausal women, the prescription PPC will be valid for 12 months. It can be used against a list of HRT
prescription items, and a patient can use this against an unlimited number of HRT items, such as patches, tablets and topical preparations. There will be no limit
to how many times the certificate can be used while it is valid.
"The introduction of the certificate delivers one of our year one priorities for the Women's Health Strategy for England. Published last summer, the strategy sets
out an ambitious new agenda for improving the health and wellbeing of women and girls and to improve how the health and care system listens to women. Menopause was
announced as a priority area within the strategy," said DHSC.
The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) has published a guidance for community pharmacies to help them in the implementation of the new
Prescription Prepayment Certificate (PPC) for hormone replacement therapy (HRT).
The new policy will rollout from 1 April 2023, patients who are not already exempt from NHS prescription charges will be able to purchase an annual HRT PPC for the
cost of two single prescription charges
Major concern raised by PSNC is that the NHS systems have not kept pace with policy, as the certificate is launching without the IT in place to support it.
PSNC has been clear that this is totally unacceptable, including raising this with Ministers directly and warning them that introducing the PPC without this
infrastructure risks causing confusion for some patients and adding to the burden for pharmacy teams.
"Government recognises the challenges but is determined to move forwards with the policy, said the committee. "DHSC has recognised the impact this will have on
pharmacies and we are still pressing for appropriate financial compensation. We have also sought guidance for GPs, and now published our own guidance to try to
make the launch go as smoothly as it can for pharmacy teams."