Selling PPCs through pharmacy
From Thursday 29 June 2023, the NHSBSA has enabled functionality to allow pharmacies to sell all types of Prescription Prepayment Certificates (PPCs) through the Manage Your Service (MYS) portal. The selling of PPCs through the MYS portal is an optional, unfunded activity for pharmacies. Patients can purchase PPCs directly from the NHSBSA website, and this is the recommended route to help them identify the PPC that is right for them.
- Patients can purchase an HRT PPC online at www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/hrt-ppc or telephone 0300 330 2089.
- A standard (3 or 12-month) PPC can be purchased from www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/help-nhs-prescriptioncosts/nhs-prescription-prepayment-certificate-ppc or telephone 0300 330 1341.
Both pages also describe the scenarios each type of PPC may be best suited to. If a patient is unsure or needs more guidance, they can use the NHSBSA’s online eligibility checker.
Pharmacy teams can help to raise awareness with patients about the savings they can make with PPCs by displaying posters in their pharmacy. A HC20 poster for standard PPCs and HRT PPC posters, can be ordered from the Primary Care Support England (PCSE) online portal. Pharmacies will need to login to their PCSE Online accounts and place the order for the posters. For any enquiries, the PCSE Customer Support Centre can be contacted via telephone on 0333 014 2884.
Pharmacy teams should note that selling of PPCs in pharmacy may be beneficial for patients who require assistance, for example, due to difficulties using and/or accessing the internet. Please note pharmacies currently registered to sell standard PPCs no longer need to log into a separate online system to process the PPCs sold through the pharmacy, these can now be recorded on MYS using the tab ‘Sell a Prescription Payment Certificate (PPC)’.
Community Pharmacy England’s Prescription Prepayment Certificate (PPC) Poster contains a QR code which can be scanned by a patient to take them directly to NHSBSA’s website to purchase a PPC.
FAQ
Q. Can a pharmacy correct an error on an online PPC application?
A. If a pharmacy makes an error when processing an online application, the action to take depends on when it was submitted.
If the application was submitted in the same day, follow the NHSBSA PPC Pharmacy sales – disruption procedures and advice on NHSBSA website.
Alternatively, pharmacies can contact NHSBSA Technical and Procedural team (T&P) to correct the error:
Telephone: 0300 330 1009 or email: technicalandproceduralteam@nhsbsa.nhs.uk
If the certificate has been already issued, the pharmacy must ask the PPC holder to contact NHSBSA directly for assistance.
