Community pharmacy contractors will get an extra 12p per prescription item (ppi) in their December payments.
The one-off payment comes one month after pharmacy minister Steve Brine announced an extra 15p ppi in pharmacists’ November advance payments.
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Sue Sharpe, chief executive of the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC), welcomed the increase.
She said: ‘We are grateful for this continued positive response aimed at providing some relief to contractors.’
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But she remains worried that the action isn’t enough for the pharmacists who struggle to cope with the financial pressures.
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The increase won’t provide additional funding to contractors but help ‘smooth cashflow’ issues due to the funding cuts, Category M and a rise in generic purchase prices.
Ms Sharpe remains hopeful that the PSNC ‘will be able to restore the constructive relationships that underpinned their work before 2015’.
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