PSNC is reminding community pharmacy contractors who have provided the national flu service to claim payment for the service and reimbursement of vaccine costs.

Community pharmacies have already supplied 720,000 vaccines since the flu season started in September. This compares to 595,000  flu vaccinations in total last year.

The claim can be made by submitting a completed copy of the Community Pharmacy Seasonal Influenza Vaccination claim form to the Pricing Authority with the pharmacy’s prescription bundle.

PharmOutcomes and Sonar have been used widely across NHS England to record flu vaccinations administered in pharmacies and send automatic notifications to the patients’ GPs.

However, using these systems does not automatically make a claim for payment.

To receive payment, the claim form must be submitted to the Pricing Authority with the pharmacy’s prescription bundle no later than the 5th day of the month following that in which the vaccination was administered.

Community pharmacists in England provided 595,467 flu vaccinations to patients under the national NHS Flu Vaccination Service in 2015/16.

The average number of vaccinations carried out by each participating pharmacy was 83, although two contractors greatly exceeded this by completing over 1,000 vaccinations each.

The NHS Business Services Authority published the Advance Flu Report 2015/16, detailing the community pharmacy contractors who signed up to deliver the service, as well as the NHS England area, name of vaccine administered, manufacturer, quantity, and drug and fee costs.

NHS Prescription Services is holding webinars for the rest of the month on the Flu Vaccination Service, which will cover how to register and de-register from providing this service and correctly submitting claims for payment.