DHSC’s June 2024 Price Concessions – 2nd Update
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The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has today (28/06/2024) confirmed the following list of price concessions for June 2024.
This announcement comes late in the month and follows the decision to impose changes to concessions pricing from April 2024 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 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.
| Drug | Pack size | Price concession |
| Benzydamine 0.15% mouthwash sugar free | 300 | £4.74 |
| Brimonidine 0.2% eye drops | 5 | £2.98 |
| Carbamazepine 100mg/5ml oral suspension sugar free | 300 | £13.46 |
| Chlorphenamine 2mg/5ml oral solution sugar free | 150 | £2.61 |
| Co-amoxiclav 250mg/62mg/5ml oral suspension sugar free | 100 | £1.99 |
| Erythromycin 250mg gastro-resistant tablets | 28 | £23.50 |
| Erythromycin 40mg/ml / Zinc acetate 12mg/ml lotion | 30 | £16.78 |
| Erythromycin 40mg/ml / Zinc acetate 12mg/ml lotion | 90 | £40.04 |
| Fluticasone furoate 27.5micrograms/dose nasal spray | 120 | £12.37 |
| Fusidic acid 2% cream | 15 | £1.98 |
| Fusidic acid 2% cream | 30 | £3.70 |
| Lamotrigine 5mg dispersible tablets sugar free | 28 | £9.47 |
| Lercanidipine 10mg tablets | 28 | £2.50 |
| Lercanidipine 20mg tablets | 28 | £5.66 |
| Levetiracetam 500mg tablets | 60 | £3.40 |
| Losartan 12.5mg tablets | 28 | £3.52 |
| Nefopam 30mg tablets | 90 | £4.13 |
| Olanzapine 2.5mg tablets | 28 | £2.59 |
| Olanzapine 7.5mg tablets | 28 | £1.89 |
| Olopatadine 1mg/ml eye drops | 5 | £3.97 |
| Oxytetracycline 250mg tablets | 28 | £2.18 |
| Pregabalin 225mg capsules | 56 | £2.11 |
| Pregabalin 25mg capsules | 56 | £1.51 |
| Propantheline bromide 15mg tablets | 112 | £107.49 |
| Quinagolide 50microgram tablets and Quinagolide 25microgram tablets | 6 | £40.40 |
| Risperidone 2mg tablets | 60 | £1.92 |
| Ropinirole 2mg tablets | 28 | £29.56 |
| Sertraline 100mg tablets | 28 | £1.78 |
| Sertraline 50mg tablets | 28 | £1.02 |
| Tacrolimus 0.1% ointment | 30 | £22.52 |
| Tamoxifen 20mg tablets | 30 | £5.94 |
| Venlafaxine 75mg modified-release tablets | 30 | £2.73 |
Please note: Community Pharmacy England has submitted price concession applications for a number of other medicines affected by pricing issues this month. We will issue further updates as soon as we hear back from the Department.
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.
Next Steps
Pharmacies should continue to report any problems obtaining a Part VIII product at or below the stated Drug Tariff price, using the online feedback form on our website. Please include full details of the supplier and price paid for any products sourced above the Drug Tariff price. We will investigate the extent of the problem and, if appropriate, submit further price concession applications to DHSC. Any prices granted by DHSC, will only be agreed by Community Pharmacy England if they are supported by the reports received by our team.
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, which was imposed, 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.
