Funding & Reimbursement Shorts
Published on: 15th November 2024 | Updated on: 27th June 2025
Community Pharmacy England’s series of short videos aim to provide pharmacy owners and their teams with more information on common funding and reimbursement topics, enhancing understanding of specific topics and addressing common queries. In the videos, our in-house Drug Tariff and funding experts offer practical advice on topics such as:
- prescription endorsement and submission requirements;
- common dispensing errors identified by our prescription audit team and advice on how to avoid these errors;
- price concessions;
- ‘FS’ endorsed prescriptions;
- drug reimbursement reforms; and
- how the margins survey works and other wider funding issues.
The videos are supplemented by factsheets and briefings produced by the Dispensing and Supply team including the overarching ‘Top tips to maximise dispensing income’ factsheet, which links to a wealth of resources and serves as a handy written checklist for the wider pharmacy team.
As part of our Funding & Reimbursement Shorts series, Community Pharmacy England’s in-house Drug Tariff and funding experts have created a new video introducing the Pricing Audit Team (PAT).
The Pricing Audit Team undertake monthly audit checks to verify the accuracy of NHS pricing across prescriptions and the Margin Survey. For prescription pricing, pharmacy accounts are audited each month, covering paper prescriptions, electronic prescriptions, and the Pharmacy First Clinical Pathways Service. In the Margin Survey, accounts are reviewed monthly using a selected drug list of 450–500 products, which includes a mix of branded items, generics, and specials. Additional data is also gathered on all concessionary prices to ensure comprehensive oversight of pricing accuracy. These audits give confidence and reaffirmation to both pharmacy owners and the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) that pricing rules and regulations are being followed.
In this video, Mitesh Bhudia from our Dispensing and Supply Team and Janine Rowe from our PAT team introduce the PAT team and explain:
- Why the auditing process is important for both NHSBSA and pharmacy owners
- Discuss errors where there is incorrect claiming by pharmacy teams
- How to avoid making errors when dispensing prescriptions
- Examples of errors our auditors encounter
Watch the video here:
As part of our Funding & Reimbursement Shorts series, Community Pharmacy England’s in-house Drug Tariff and funding experts have created a new video on prescription switching.
For the end-of-month submission, pharmacy teams are required to sort paper prescriptions into paid and exempt groups. Prescription switching occurs when an FP10 paper prescription is submitted in the wrong charge group and the NHS Business Services Authority switches the prescription from the exempt to paid group or vice versa. In 2024, £2.3m were deducted from pharmacies because 230k prescription items on FP10 paper prescriptions were submitted in the exempt group without a patient signature on the reverse of the prescription form.
In this video, Alisha Khatri and Sarah Welbourne from our Dispensing and Supply Team discuss the topic of prescription switching to explain:
- What prescription switching is and why FP10 paper prescriptions are switched by the NHSBSA
- Where to find information about your switched prescriptions
- The financial impact of switching due to unsigned prescriptions
- How to complete, sort and submit your prescriptions correctly to avoid prescription switching
Watch the prescription switching video here:
As part of our Funding & Reimbursement Shorts series, Community Pharmacy England’s in-house Drug Tariff and funding experts have created a new video providing guidance on Original Pack Dispensing (OPD) including how and when to apply the new +/-10% rules.
In this video, Gemma Hackett and Alisha Khatri from our Dispensing and Supply Team, discuss the topic of OPD, covering:
- What OPD +/- 10% is and why it was introduced;
- When and how to use OPD +/- 10%, including which types of products it will relate to;
- How reimbursement rules will be applied including examples; and
- How IT/PMR functionality supports OPD
Watch the Original Pack Dispensing (OPD) video here:
Further information and resources:
See Community Pharmacy England’s Original Pack Dispensing page for more information including regulatory changes and IT systems functionality.
Community Pharmacy England’s in-house Drug Tariff and funding experts have created a new video providing guidance on how handling ‘FS’ endorsed prescriptions for free supply of sexual health treatments.
In our latest video, Mitesh Bhudia and Gemma Hackett from our Dispensing and Supply Team, discuss the topic of ‘FS’ endorsed prescriptions, including:
- Which treatments are covered by the ‘FS’ endorsement;
- How prescribers should apply the ‘FS’ endorsement to prescriptions;
- Dispensing and claiming for prescriptions with ‘FS’ endorsed items; and
- Correct submission of prescriptions with ‘FS’ endorsed items.
Watch the ‘FS’ endorsed prescriptions for free supply of sexual health treatments video here:
Further information and resources:
Dispensing Factsheet: Prescriber ‘FS’ endorsement for free supply of sexual health treatment
Community Pharmacy England’s in-house Drug Tariff and funding experts have created a video providing guidance on how to correctly endorse and claim for any supplies made against a Serious Shortage Protocol (SSP).
In our latest video which is available now for community pharmacy teams to watch, Mitesh Bhudia and Suraj Shah from our Dispensing and Supply Team, discuss the topic of SSPs, including:
- How to correctly endorse an SSP to ensure correct payment;
- Common reasons why SSP claims are deemed incorrect/invalid and are not paid; and
- How to reconcile SSP prescriptions.
Watch the SSP video here:
Further information and resources:
A video explaining the recent improvements to the price concessions process is now available for community pharmacy teams to watch.
In the latest video, Mitesh Bhudia and Sarah Welbourne from our Dispensing and Supply Team discuss ongoing work to improve the system for pharmacy owners and the changes implemented by the Department of Health and Social Care, including:
- Price concession lines becoming Zero Discount;
- Rolling over of price concessions; and
- Retrospective top-up payments.
Watch the price concession video here:
Further information and resources (as referenced in the guide):
A video presented by Mitesh Bhudia and Gemma Hackett from our Dispensing and Supply Team, looks at prescriptions containing supplementary product information. The video guides viewers through the issue using likely examples and advice on what to do.
Watch the supplementary product information video here:
Further information and resources (as referenced in the guide):
For more information on this topic please email comms.team@cpe.org.uk
