The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has today (01/05/2024) confirmed the following final list of price concessions for April 2024.
This final update comes after the end of the month and follows the decision by DHSC, under the direction of Ministers, to impose changes to concessions pricing from April to try to manage purchase margins. DHSC has applied its new margin reduction formula as a final step, delaying the announcement through the addition of another layer of complexity to the concessions process.
Community Pharmacy England has strongly opposed this, and is continuing to warn Government and the NHS that putting further pressure on pharmacies to dispense at a loss will have very serious consequences for the sector, patients and the wider primary care system.
All pharmacy owners are encouraged to contact their MPs about the ongoing intolerable pressures on the sector using our guidance for writing to your MP and/or our latest briefings for politicians.
Drug
Pack size
Price concession
Benzylpenicillin 600mg powder for solution for injection vials
2
£5.95
Cabergoline 500microgram tablets
8
£19.84
Chlorphenamine 2mg/5ml oral solution sugar free
150
£3.24
Co-amoxiclav 250mg/62mg/5ml oral suspension sugar free
100
£2.07
Co-beneldopa 12.5mg/50mg capsules
100
£4.96
Diethylstilbestrol 1mg tablets
28
£104.49
Enalapril 10mg tablets
28
£0.72
Fluticasone 400microgram/unit dose nasal drops
30
£16.90
Fusidic acid 2% cream
15
£1.96
Fusidic acid 2% cream
30
£3.78
Ispaghula husk 3.5g effervescent granules sachets gluten free sugar free
30
£6.39
Itraconazole 100mg capsules
15
£10.35
Lamotrigine 200mg tablets
56
£4.81
Lisinopril 20mg / Hydrochlorothiazide 12.5mg tablets
28
£8.43
Mercaptopurine 50mg tablets
25
£8.73
Metoprolol 100mg tablets
28
£2.69
Mometasone 0.1% cream
30
£3.73
Moxonidine 200microgram tablets
28
£5.36
Olanzapine 20mg tablets
28
£1.66
Pregabalin 100mg capsules
84
£2.13
Prochlorperazine 5mg tablets
28
£1.81
Quetiapine 300mg tablets
60
£6.99
Ropinirole 1mg tablets
84
£33.84
Salbutamol 2.5mg/2.5ml nebuliser liquid unit dose vials
20
£16.99
Sitagliptin 100mg/5ml oral solution sugar free
150
£49.00
Notes
There are no prices that rolled over from the previous month.
No additional endorsements are required for price concessions. A price concession only applies for the month it is granted; any prices agreed for concessions requested late in the month will roll over into the following month.
Please subscribe to our mailing list to receive email updates of any price concessions.
Background to the changes
DHSC announced in the April 2024 Drug Tariff its decision to manage retained buying margin by limiting concessionary prices. From April to June 2024, DHSC will be seeking to recover c£5.4m per month from the community pharmacy sector by squeezing price concessions.
This experiment, imposed by DHSC under the direction of Ministers, is replacing the usual process of making margin adjustments to Category M reimbursement prices for this quarter. Community Pharmacy England remains firmly opposed to this approach, or any recovery of margin, given the very serious financial fragility of community pharmacies. We have serious concerns about the ongoing impact on pharmacy businesses and their patients.
Further information on price concessions and FAQs about the process involved can be found on our website (cpe.org.uk/priceconcessions). To hear more on how the current price concessions system operates, pharmacy teams can watch a recording of our webinar here.
The post DHSC’s April 2024 Price Concessions – Final Update appeared first on Community Pharmacy England.