The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 276 No 7384 p61
21 January 2006

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No cost estimate made for patient packs, DoH admits

No estimates have been made by the Department of Health of the cost to pharmacists of providing full patient packs if reimbursement is based on the quantity of medicines prescribed, health minister Jane Kennedy admitted last week.
In a Parliamentary written reply to Liberal Democrat MP Norman Baker, Ms Kennedy said: “It is not possible to ascertain whether pharmacists would incur cost by providing patient packs.”

However, she added that work done by the Prescription Pricing Authority had shown that the quantity of medicines prescribed matched that of an available pack size in most cases. “For example, sample statistics show that drugs available in a pack size of 28 are prescribed in multiples of 28 nearly 78 per cent of the time. In these cases the cost to the pharmacist of providing full patient packs is nil.

“Furthermore, if pharmacists are not obliged to dispense a quantity other than that which is prescribed, they would retain the option of dispensing exactly as prescribed, thereby incurring no costs or losses.”

The DoH consultation on the matter (PJ, 17 September 2005, p329) suggests that the change to reimbursement procedures would be cost neutral.