Mr Patsy McGlone (Mid Ulster): To ask the Minister of Health to detail any steps he is taking to (i) make the community pharmacy contract more sustainable; and (ii) reform the price concession mechanism.
Minister of Health: The current community pharmacy contractual arrangements in Northern Ireland centre around a funding envelope determined by the Department and services commissioned by my Department in line with strategic priorities, and developed in collaboration with Community Pharmacy Northern Ireland (CPNI).
These arrangements have benefited community pharmacy, with year-on-year increases to recurrent funding at a time of severe financial constraints for my Department as it faces rising demand for health services, inflationary costs and a significant deficit and I see no reason to change these arrangements at this time. Since April 2018, funding has increased by almost £60m (57%). This is the highest level of funding to date and is comparable with the rest of the UK.
In regard to the price concession mechanism, the Department has a statutory duty to ensure fair, accurate and prompt payment for HSC commissioned pharmaceutical services, and the Northern Ireland Drug Tariff sets out the remuneration and reimbursement arrangements for medicines supplied by community pharmacies.
If there is significant price instability or price fluctuations in-month for medicines, then a “concessionary price” is activated to help reset the price. Furthermore, since 1 April 2024 all drugs awarded concessionary prices have been subject to Zero Discount, i.e. discount (or clawback) is not deducted from these products.
In Northern Ireland, unlike other parts of the UK, there is also a special advance in the system for drugs on concession. I have listened to the recent concerns from contractors in relation to the cashflow pressures arising from current price fluctuations for a number of medicines, and in order to support the network, my Department has increased the special advance payable to contractors from £3,000 to £5,000.
ENDS
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