Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee

Drug Tariff Resource Centre

In this area of the site you'll find a variety of information on recent changes to the Drug Tariff guidance and the NHSBSA Prescription Services pricing procedures, guidance on NCSO concessions, disallowed appliances, the prescription charge arrangements and much more.

For support please contact the PSNC Information Team (0844 381 4180).

Introduction to the Drug Tariff

The Drug Tariff is published in hard copy monthly and can be viewed online:
Online Drug Tariff

New to the Tariff? Click on the link below for an overview of how the Drug Tariff is structured:
Introduction to the Drug Tariff

Can a Prescription be Dispensed?

On receipt of a prescription, pharmacy staff have to assess a number of factors in determining whether the prescription can be dispensed at NHS expense:

Can the particular prescription form be accepted for NHS dispensing?
Did the prescriber have appropriate authority to prescribe?
Can the product be prescribed at NHS expense?
If it's a Controlled Drug prescription, does the prescription meet the various CD requirements?

The PSNC Information Team have developed a number of resources to support pharmacy staff in assessing whether prescriptions can be dispensed on the NHS.

Click on the links below for more information.

	Prescription Forms Valid in England & Wales In this section of the site you'll find detailed guidance on which prescription forms can and cannot be dispensed in England and Wales.

	What can be prescribed on an NHS Prescription? In this section of the site you'll find detailed guidance on how to tell whether a particular product can be prescribed on an NHS prescription. This includes a link to the PSNC Disallowed Appliances List .

	Prescribing Rights of Different Practitioners In this section of your site, you'll find detailed information on the prescribing rights of different health professionals as well as links to the online registers of each of the professional regulators, to check whether a prescriber has the appropriate prescribing qualifications.

	Controlled Drug Guidance Our Controlled Drug Guidance provides a summary of the wide-ranging requirements that must be considered when dispensing prescriptions for Controlled Drugs. Related resources include guidance on Instalment (FP10MDA) dispensing and a downloadable list of commonly available Schedule 2 and 3 CDs.

How Much Should be Dispensed?

Pharmacies are normally reimbursed on the basis that the exact quantity ordered by the prescriber has been supplied unless the preparation has been recognised as being packaged in a special container or calendar pack. Click on the links below for more guidance including a searchable online database of commonly dispensed special containers and calendar packs:

Special Container and Calendar Pack

Special Container and Calendar Pack Database

Reimbursement

The price used to calculate a pharmacy contractor's payment varies depending on whether the item is a medicine or an appliance. Click on the links below for more detailed information.

	Reimbursement Arrangements for Appliances Pharmacies are reimbursed for appliances pro-rata based on the reimbursement price listed in Part IX of the Tariff. More information on how reimbursement is calculated where the type or size of the product is not prescribed is available in this section.

	Reimbursement Arrangements for Medicines The price used to calculate payments for medicines dispensed varies depending on whether the product is prescribed by brand name or generically. More information on how prices are set is available in this section along with information on the agreed price change mechanism for medicines.

	Stock Shortages In this section of the site you can find out which products have been granted NCSO status and more information about stock shortages.

	Pharmacies can also claim reimbursement for additional expenses incurred in dispensing products: Broken Bulk Discount Not Given Arrangements Out of Pocket Expenses

	Containers and Additional Items Pharmacy contractors must supply medicines in suitable containers and are required to provide measuring spoons and 1ml, 5ml or 10ml oral syringes when dispensing certain products. This section contains more information on the Container Fee and arrangements for dispensing Additional Items.

	Payment Timetable and Schedule of Payments It can take up to three months for pharmacy contractors to receive payment for medicines dispensed. This section contains more information on the Schedule of Payments.

Remuneration

The funding for the national NHS community pharmacy contract is re-negotiated on an annual basis. Funding is received from three key sources: central funding (commonly known as the ‘Global Sum’), funding recharged to PCTs and retained buying profit.

An overview of the funding arrangements and detailed information on the 2006/7 funding arrangements can be found in the National Contract Funding section of this site. Click on the links below for more information on particular aspects of the funding arrangements:

	Funding for Essential Services Including Establishment Payments, Practice Payments, Transitional Payments, the Repeat Dispensing Annual Payment and Fees
	Funding for Advanced Services Including MUR limits
	Drug Tariff Category M: How it Works The Department of Health sets the prices for products in Part VIII Category M of the Drug Tariff based on information received from manufacturers. Prices change quarterly. Download the current price list in this section of the site.
	ETP Allowances Background to the New Contract ETP/IT Allowances.
	Pre-registration Training Grant Background on the Pre-registration Training Grant, how the Grant is processed and claimed

Guidance on Endorsing

Endorsements should be accurate, concise and legible and provide sufficient information for the NHSBSA to correctly price prescriptions. Click on the links below to view guidance on endorsing:

PSNC/NHSBSA PPD Guidance on Endorsing (PDF Format)

FP10MDA Endorsement Guidance

How Much Does the Patient Pay?

NHS Prescription Charges: How Much does the Patient Pay?

This Section of the site includes downloadable copies of the Prescription Charge Card (April 2011) , Multi Charge Card and Alphabetical List of Charges.

P oint of Dispensing Checks Guidance

This section offers information to Pharmacies on what is needed to check at the point of dispensing (POD) whether patients have evidence of their entitlement to free prescriptions.

Prescription Charge Refunds

This section offers information on Prescription charge refunds.

Product Related Guidance

Click on the links below to view product related guidance:

	Food, Drugs, Toiletries and Cosmetics This section offers guidance linked to particular medicines, toiletries and cosmetics.
	Appliances This section offers guidance linked to particular appliances.
	MHRA Drug and Device Alerts (external site) This website contains details of alerts from the MHRA regarding drugs and devices.
	NPSA Alerts This section contains details of alerts from the NPSA regarding drugs and devices.

Where Can I Obtain?

Click on the link below to access links to where you can obtain popular publications and resources:

Where Can I Obtain?

DOWNLOADS:

Some documents are available in PDF format, you will require Adobe Acrobat Reader 9.0 or later for viewing which can be downloaded from the Adobe Website

DOWNLOADS: Some documents are available in ‘Microsoft Word’ format. If you do not have Microsoft Word, you can read these forms by downloading the free 'Word Viewer'. This program can be downloaded at the Microsoft website