The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 274 No 7337 p198
19 February 2005

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Contract 2005

£38m of disability payments announced for new contract

A total of £38m has been allocated in the funding for the new community pharmacy contract in England and Wales for support for people with disabilities who need help taking their medicines, the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee announced this week.

Such support can range from reminder charts to putting tablets into bottles from strips and providing medicines in compliance aids. In a pharmacy dispensing over 2,000 items per month the contractor is entitled to an additional 5.5p per item as part of the practice payment. Contractors whose pharmacies dispense fewer than 1,100 items per month and who receive no practice payment will be paid a disability payment. Additions will be made to the practice payments for contractors with pharmacies dispensing between 1,100 and 2,000 items per month. The PSNC said that an average pharmacy will receive around £4,000 a year for disability support.

A Department of Health tool to assist pharmacists in determining which patients require disability support, and of what sort, is expected to be available shortly.