DHSC’s May 2024 Price Concessions – 2nd Update
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has today (31/05/2024) confirmed the following list of price concessions for May 2024.
This announcement comes late in the month and follows the decision by DHSC, under the direction of Ministers, 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 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.
| Drug | Pack size | Price concession |
| Amorolfine 5% medicated nail lacquer | 5 | £7.60 |
| Carbomer ‘980’ 0.2% eye drops | 10 | £3.20 |
| Cefalexin 500mg tablets | 21 | £2.40 |
| Chlorphenamine 2mg/5ml oral solution sugar free | 150 | £2.85 |
| Dorzolamide 20mg/ml / Timolol 5mg/ml eye drops | 5 | £6.28 |
| Fluticasone 400microgram/unit dose nasal drops | 30 | £16.92 |
| Fluticasone furoate 27.5micrograms/dose nasal spray | 120 | £8.44 |
| Fusidic acid 2% cream | 15 | £2.10 |
| Fusidic acid 2% cream | 30 | £3.75 |
| Ispaghula husk 3.5g effervescent granules sachets gluten free sugar free | 30 | £6.39 |
| Mercaptopurine 50mg tablets | 25 | £11.81 |
| Metoprolol 50mg tablets | 28 | £3.40 |
| Olanzapine 15mg tablets | 28 | £3.99 |
| Olanzapine 5mg tablets | 28 | £1.47 |
| Olopatadine 1mg/ml eye drops | 5 | £4.45 |
| Potassium aminobenzoate 3g oral powder sachets | 40 | £68.77 |
| Propantheline bromide 15mg tablets | 112 | £100.61 |
| Quetiapine 25mg tablets | 60 | £3.20 |
| Salbutamol 5mg/2.5ml nebuliser liquid unit dose vials | 20 | £20.53 |
| Sitagliptin 100mg/5ml oral solution sugar free | 150 | £49.00 |
| Terbinafine 250mg tablets | 14 | £14.58 |
| Venlafaxine 75mg modified-release tablets | 30 | £2.80 |
For the full list of price concessions granted for May 2024 please visit our price concession hub page here
Please note: Community Pharmacy England is still awaiting responses from DHSC to additional applications for price concessions requested in May. 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, 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.
