ALERT: Change in remuneration fee for Isle of Wight Urgent Supply Service

A number of changes to locally commissioned services will be introduced in the new community pharmacy contract due to be issued soon from Isle of Wight CCG. The overdue contract will affect the provision of all existing and newly commissioned CCG services provided from 1st April 2018.

£15 professional fee from 1st April

One particular change that pharmacists need to be aware of is a reduction of the professional fee for providing the Urgent Supply Service from £20 to £15. The CCG announcement to all community pharmacies was made on a PharmOutcomes message on 26th April 2018, but did not provide the rationale for this reduction, which we feel is important for contractors to understand.

As is usual practice, CPSC has produced a RAG rating Service Checklist (see also below) to provide guidance for contractors to read and consider. We have still rated this service as green, as the service mirrors the PURM (Pharmacy Urgent Supply Medicines) service commissioned on the mainland across the rest of the NHS England - South (Wessex) area. That service was never adopted by the Isle of Wight, as the CCG on the island decided to commission their own equivalent service at a beneficial rate to both themselves and pharmacy contractors. The PURM service pays a professional fee of £15 and subsequent item fees of £2 along with the drug tariff price of the drugs used (+ VAT) and was previously rated as green by the sub committee when it was first introduced.

Isle of Wight CCG have many cost reduction challenges this year and have therefore looked at many areas where costs can be reduced. The Urgent Supply Service was being remunerated at a higher rate than that on the mainland and it was therefore felt that this had to be addressed. CPSC negotiated the pricing structure of the service in comparison to other schemes, such as NUMSAS and the local NHS Wessex PURM service and have agreed to endorse the decision to reduce the Isle of Wight professional fee to mirror that paid in the rest of Wessex.

We therefore recommend that all pharmacy contractors continue to provide the Urgent Supply Service and sign-up for this when they receive the new CCG contracts due soon.

Urgent Supply 2018, IOW CCG | Checklist - Service Spec

April PharmOutcomes invoices show incorrect fee structure

It has come to our attention that the fees showing in the April produced reports for the Urgent Supply Service on PharmOutcomes are incorrect. Some pharmacies have noticed that the professional fee is quoted at £10 with an additional supply fee of £1.50 and a subsequent additional item fee of 50p.

The CCG are aware of this input error and have confirmed that the fee structure will be adjusted and corrected in time for the actual payment date to pharmacies at the end of this coming quarter. If you have any further queries with regard to your invoice reports, please contact caroline.allen@iow.nhs.uk