Retrospective reimbursement price adjustments for March 2025
Following representations made by Community Pharmacy England on behalf of community pharmacy owners, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has retrospectively adjusted the reimbursement prices of certain products dispensed in March 2025.
Under the current price change mechanism, pharmacy owners would have to wait one (or in some cases two months) before any NHS list prices changes are applied to reimbursement of branded products. The delays in reimbursement prices catching up with any NHS list price increases can lead to dispensing at a loss as pharmacies will be reimbursed based on the previous NHS list price until the price change is adjusted in line with the price change timetable. The impact is more significant for products with large list price increases or for high volume lines.
To avoid pharmacy owners dispensing these products at a loss, DHSC has agreed retrospective price adjustments for the following branded products dispensed in March 2025.
| Generic name | Brand name | Pack size | Previous NHS list price | Retrospectively adjusted reimbursement price |
| Betamethasone 0.1% ear/eye/nose drops | Vistamethasone 0.1% ear/eye/nose drops | 5ml | £7.00 | £11.20 |
| Macrogol 3350 oral powder 8.5g sachets sugar free | TransiSoft oral powder 8.5g sachets | 28 | £164.21 | £188.84 (to apply to both branded and generically written prescriptions) |
| Methylphenidate 18mg modified-release tablets | Affenid XL 18mg tablets | 30 | £10.90 | £13.08 |
| Methylphenidate 27mg modified-release tablets | Affenid XL 27mg tablets | 30 | £12.87 | £15.44 |
| Methylphenidate 36mg modified-release tablets | Affenid XL 36mg tablets | 30 | £14.85 | £17.82 |
| Methylphenidate 54mg modified-release tablets | Affenid XL 54mg tablets | 30 | £25.75 | £30.90 |
Community Pharmacy England is awaiting details of the month in which these adjustments will appear on the Schedule of Payments. We will update this article as soon as we receive confirmation from DHSC.
Community Pharmacy England made representations for price adjustments to several other products affected by NHS list price increases in March 2025. However, DHSC took the decision not to grant retrospective price adjustments for all the products requested.
Community Pharmacy England continues to seek review of the current price change timetable for branded products so that there is no extra months’ delay in applying any new list prices changes to reimbursement.
