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.

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.’

But she remains worried that the action isn’t enough for the pharmacists who struggle to cope with the financial pressures.

 

 

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’.