The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 277 No 7410 p91
22 July 2006

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News summary

£66m contract underspend in England and Wales

Agreed funding for advanced services under the community pharmacy contract in England and Wales and the electronic prescription service (EPS) was not all spent in 2005–06, according to the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee.

Sue Sharpe, chief executive of the PSNC, said at a press briefing last week that there had been two major areas of underspending: advanced services, where there was an underspend of around £30m, and EPS payments, where the figure was around £36m.

There was also an underspend on item-linked payments, because the overall number of prescriptions dispensed was lower than the PSNC had anticipated. However, this amount was relatively small compared with those for EPS and the advanced services, she said.

Mrs Sharpe also revealed that the PSNC expected to have the funding for the contract for 2006–07 agreed at its September meeting.