The 2p increase is based on the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee’s (PSNC) “analysis of funding delivery and the latest projections for the year”, it said this afternoon (July 29).
The single activity fee was introduced along with the pharmacy funding cuts in England in December 2016, and replaced payouts for dispensing, practice payments and the electronic prescription service.
“Fee levels are kept under constant review in order to ensure the full delivery of funding agreed under the community pharmacy contractual framework,” PSNC added.
£16.3m monthly reduction in medicine margin
The increase in single activity fee follows the £49m quartely reduction – or approximately a 19p decrease per item on average – in category M reimbursement prices from July.
Announcing the reduction in June, PSNC said: “The £15m per quarter uplift that has been in place for the last 3 quarters to mitigate against the impact of Brexit will also be removed from the July Drug Tariff.”
As always, the impact on individual pharmacies will vary depending on dispensing mix,” PSNC said at the time.
