PSNC
The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) said ongoing supply and price issues with generic drugs are putting “enormous pressure on community pharmacy contractors” as the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) announced its final price concessions for February 2018.
The government will pay concessionary prices for 69 generic drugs for the month of February, more than were agreed in January 2018 or December 2017.
Mike Dent, director of pharmacy funding at the PSNC, said: “Once again, although we are pleased that concessions for another month have been finalised, many are lower than PSNC had sought.
“Medicines supply and pricing issues are continuing to put enormous pressure on community pharmacy contractors, and the time being taken to make concession announcements only compounds this.”
The DHSC is trialling a new system that will gather “timely data” from manufacturers on the price of generic drugs, and Dent said the PSNC would continue to lobby for improvements to be made to the system.
“Contractors must not carry unreasonable costs on behalf of the NHS,” he said.
