Advanced and Essential service changes in the July Drug Tariff

Following discussions between Community Pharmacy England, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA), several changes have been agreed within the July 2025 Drug Tariff associated with Advanced services and the Essential service, the Discharge Medicines Service (DMS).

Changes to reflect the simplified DMS journey on MYS

As highlighted earlier this month, from 1st July 2025, pharmacy owners should use the new shortened process to claim for any activity for DMS. The new Manage Your Service (MYS) journey will be available from 5th July 2025.

The new streamlined process is a result of feedback from Community Pharmacy England about the current lengthy claiming process.

The July 2025 Drug Tariff has been updated to reflect the simplified MYS journey.

Extension of claim periods for bank holidays

Currently, pharmacy owners should submit claims for payments for services by the 5th day of the following month in which the chargeable activity was provided, even if a bank holiday occurs within the first five days of the following month.

Following discussions with Community Pharmacy England, DHSC and NHSBSA have agreed to align the services claiming deadlines with the FP34C submission timetable to account for bank holidays. Therefore, from 1st July 2025, when one or more bank holidays occur, within the first five days of the month, pharmacy owners will have until the 6th of that month to submit their claims on MYS for all Advanced services and DMS.

Reduction in the re-registration period for Pharmacy First

Currently, if a pharmacy owner de-registers from Pharmacy First on MYS, for example, if they accidentally do this instead of a temporary suspension of services, they must wait four months before they can re-register. This is due to the pharmacy still needing to provide the service during their 30-day notice period and then continuing to be registered on MYS for another three months but ‘not being active for the service’ to allow pharmacy owners to claim for Pharmacy First consultations due to the previous three-month payment claim period.

The claim period for Pharmacy First has now been reduced to one month. Consequently,  the re-registration period for Pharmacy First has also been reduced to one month from 1st July 2025. This means that if a pharmacy de-registers but then wants to re-register, pharmacies will need to provide the service during their 30-day notice period and then wait for only one month before they can re-register for the service.