Financial details of new essential small pharmacy scheme confirmed
Details of the financial support available under the new essential small pharmacy local pharmaceutical services scheme (ESPLPS), due to be introduced next April, have been confirmed by the Department of Health.
Those pharmacies that meet the criteria will be eligible for a monthly
reimbursement of £4,078 — the same level of funding which
exists under the current essential
small pharmacies scheme (ESPS) which
is being abolished on 31 March. The figure appears in DoH guidance published
last week alongside a timetable for the scheme’s introduction.
Pharmacies that see their annual prescriptions rise above the 24,000
prescription threshold for ESPLPS status will be automatically transferred
onto a standard local pharmacy contract. If the number of prescriptions
drops back to within the ESPLPS threshold the pharmacy will not be able
to rejoin the ESPLPS scheme, the guidance says.
Pharmacies that join ESPLPS will have to sign up for five years, according
to the guidance. They will also be expected to open for between 35 and
40 hours a week, following agreement with their primary care trust.
Those pharmacies open for less then 35 hours will only receive a proportion
of the extra funding guaranteed under ESPLPS, it confirmed.
Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee head of finance Mike Dent
said: “The ESPLPS may be more restrictive than the scheme it replaces
but it is aimed at supporting those pharmacies already in the ESPS rather
than attracting more pharmacies to join.”
In March last year 223 pharmacies in England had ESPS status. |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal
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