DHSC’s April 2024 Price Concessions – Final Update
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The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has today (01/05/2024) confirmed the following final list of price concessions for April 2024.
This final update comes after the end of the month and follows the decision by DHSC, under the direction of Ministers, to impose changes to concessions pricing from April to try to manage purchase margins. DHSC has applied its new margin reduction formula as a final step, delaying the announcement through the addition of another layer of complexity to the concessions process.
Community Pharmacy England has strongly opposed this, and is continuing to warn Government and the NHS that putting further pressure on pharmacies to dispense at a loss will have very serious consequences for the sector, patients and the wider primary care system.
All pharmacy owners are encouraged to contact their MPs about the ongoing intolerable pressures on the sector using our guidance for writing to your MP and/or our latest briefings for politicians.
| Drug | Pack size | Price concession |
| Benzylpenicillin 600mg powder for solution for injection vials | 2 | £5.95 |
| Cabergoline 500microgram tablets | 8 | £19.84 |
| Chlorphenamine 2mg/5ml oral solution sugar free | 150 | £3.24 |
| Co-amoxiclav 250mg/62mg/5ml oral suspension sugar free | 100 | £2.07 |
| Co-beneldopa 12.5mg/50mg capsules | 100 | £4.96 |
| Diethylstilbestrol 1mg tablets | 28 | £104.49 |
| Enalapril 10mg tablets | 28 | £0.72 |
| Fluticasone 400microgram/unit dose nasal drops | 30 | £16.90 |
| Fusidic acid 2% cream | 15 | £1.96 |
| Fusidic acid 2% cream | 30 | £3.78 |
| Ispaghula husk 3.5g effervescent granules sachets gluten free sugar free | 30 | £6.39 |
| Itraconazole 100mg capsules | 15 | £10.35 |
| Lamotrigine 200mg tablets | 56 | £4.81 |
| Lisinopril 20mg / Hydrochlorothiazide 12.5mg tablets | 28 | £8.43 |
| Mercaptopurine 50mg tablets | 25 | £8.73 |
| Metoprolol 100mg tablets | 28 | £2.69 |
| Mometasone 0.1% cream | 30 | £3.73 |
| Moxonidine 200microgram tablets | 28 | £5.36 |
| Olanzapine 20mg tablets | 28 | £1.66 |
| Pregabalin 100mg capsules | 84 | £2.13 |
| Prochlorperazine 5mg tablets | 28 | £1.81 |
| Quetiapine 300mg tablets | 60 | £6.99 |
| Ropinirole 1mg tablets | 84 | £33.84 |
| Salbutamol 2.5mg/2.5ml nebuliser liquid unit dose vials | 20 | £16.99 |
| Sitagliptin 100mg/5ml oral solution sugar free | 150 | £49.00 |
Notes
There are no prices that rolled over from the previous month.
No additional endorsements are required for price concessions. A price concession only applies for the month it is granted; any prices agreed for concessions requested late in the month will roll over into the following month.
Please subscribe to our mailing list to receive email updates of any price concessions.
Background to the changes
DHSC announced in the April 2024 Drug Tariff its decision to manage retained buying margin by limiting concessionary prices. From April to June 2024, DHSC will be seeking to recover c£5.4m per month from the community pharmacy sector by squeezing price concessions.
This experiment, imposed by DHSC under the direction of Ministers, is replacing the usual process of making margin adjustments to Category M reimbursement prices for this quarter. Community Pharmacy England remains firmly opposed to this approach, or any recovery of margin, given the very serious financial fragility of community pharmacies. We have serious concerns about the ongoing impact on pharmacy businesses and their patients.
Further information on price concessions and FAQs about the process involved can be found on our website (cpe.org.uk/priceconcessions). To hear more on how the current price concessions system operates, pharmacy teams can watch a recording of our webinar here.
