The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has published its final list of price concessions for April 2024.
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The final update comes after the end of month and follows concerns raised by Community Pharmacy England (CPE) over potential delays to concessions announcements adding ‘another layer of complexity’ to the process. The first April price concessions were published last week.
From April, both category M prices and price concessions are ‘temporarily’ subject to a margin reduction formula by the DHSC, which is aiming to recover around £5.4m per month from the sector between April and June 2024.
This is based on an estimation that the sector profited by £16.2m over the agreed medicines margin up to the end of September 2023.
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CPE has registered its strong opposition to this, and the negotiator said it would continue to warn the government and the NHS that ‘putting further pressure on pharmacies to dispense at a loss will have very serious consequences for the sector, patients and the wider primary care system’.
CPE is also encouraging pharmacy owners to contact their MPs over the ‘ongoing intolerable pressures on the sector’.
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The final list of April price concessions can be found on the CPE website.
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