Published: 03/05/22

Summary

This circular sets out to community pharmacy contractors and NHS Boards the details of the community pharmacy funding arrangement 2022-23. This forms part of the 3-year settlement introduced in April 2020.

Background

Circular PCA(P)(2021)5 advised on amendments to the reimbursement arrangements and amendments to reimbursement prices listed in Part 7 of the Drug Tariff (generics) along with the Part 7 discount clawback rate for the financial year 2021-22. In line with the 3-year settlement, the Part 7 discount clawback rate will remain at zero.

Detail

The remuneration Global Sum will be subject to a fixed percentage uplift of 2.5% in each of the three years.  The remuneration Global Sum in 2022/23 will be reset at £205.489 million.

1. The non-Global Sum will remain at £1.3 million and will continue to fund the infrastructure to support the joint Scottish Government and CPS strategy of increasing the independent prescriber workforce within the community pharmacy setting.

2. NHS Pharmacy First Scotland service funding will increase by £2.5 million in 2022-23, bringing the total investment of new monies for the service to £10m million.

3. The continued mapping of funding from Part 7 (generic) Drug Tariff as guaranteed income will be increased by £15 million to £80 million for the financial year 2022-23. Mapped guaranteed income is not subject to an annual uplift.

4. Taking points I – IV, the total guaranteed funding to be delivered in 2022/23 is £287.989 million.

5. The current level of the guaranteed minimum income and the agreed additional retained income ‘buffer’ will be increased in line with the 3-year settlement.  Therefore, guaranteed minimum income will be reset at £84.05 million and sharing of generated income above £94.05 million will be on a 50:50 basis between NHS Boards and community pharmacy owners. This is subject to ongoing discussion between Scottish Government and Community Pharmacy Scotland and any changes will be communicated in due course.

6.  Any generated income above the agreed sharing point that is due to Boards will be delivered through an agreed mechanism.  In addition, any generated income above the sharing point due to Boards will be matched as mapped guaranteed income.  Both will be delivered by a reduction to Part 7 (generic) Drug Tariff.        

7. The amount due to Boards will be determined by the outputs from the Scottish Government community pharmacy regular pricing enquiry reporting. 

8. In line with the 3-year settlement, the Scottish Government shall determine if any Drug Tariff reductions are practical for the purposes of mapping to guaranteed income.  Taking into consideration the current market conditions and any impacts on the Scottish Drug Tariff, no additional monies will be mapped in the financial year 2022-23 from previous years.