One Additional item to be processed as discount not deducted
1 additional item Neupro transdermal patches treatment initiation pack, is to be processed as Discount Not Deducted from 1st August. This will not appear in the printed list until the September Drug Tariff.

Additional items to be processed as discount not deducted
12 additional items are to be processed as Discount Not Deducted from 1st August. These will not appear in the printed list until the September Drug Tariff.

Switching – Compensation agreement
As a result of the introduction of new prescription pricing technology in early 2007 by the Prescription Pricing Division, the Capacity Improvement Programme (CIP) there has been a substantial increase in “switching” of prescriptions.............

Additional items to be processed as discount not deducted
The Department of Health have confirmed that 16 additional items are to be processed as Discount Not Deducted from 1st July. These will not appear in the printed list until the August Drug Tariff.

More PPD open day dates
Following the interest in our open days, the NHSBSA PPD is offering more dates from August to November. If you are a dispensing contractor, or you would like to see how we price prescriptions for reimbursement and remuneration please phone our Prescription Processing Helpdesk on 0845 610 1171 (local rate call).

Dates:

5 August, 23 September, 21 October and 25 November. For each date there is a choice of either a morning or lunchtime session of 3 hours.

The dates are currently only available at our Newcastle office

Branded drugs that are produced by more than one manufacturer
Some branded drugs are available from more than one manufacturer, but are still licensed under the same name, (e.g. Dianette, Dicloflex Retard 100mg, Dicloflex E/C 25mg and 50mg, Nifedipress MR10 and Verapress MR 240).

As the reimbursement price of a branded drug is based on the manufacturer’s list price, reimbursement prices for these brands may differ depending on the manufacturer supplied.

Therefore, in order for the PPD to accurately reimburse contractors for the dispensed item, branded products produced by more than one manufacturer should be endorsed with the manufacturer of the item supplied.

Preston and Manchester office closures
These offices are now closed as of today 20 June.
All contractors who sent prescription forms to these offices should have received a letter telling them about the change and which office to now send their batch to.
If you have any queries about where to send your batch, please phone our Prescription Processing Helpdesk on 0845 610 1171.
You will find address details for all our remaining offices on our 'Contact' page under 'Maps / Directions for PPD'.

Category M Price Changes
The Department of Health have announced the price changes for Category M which will apply to prescriptions dispensed from the 1st July 2008.

Latest edition of Impact is out now.
Click here to read our special edition of Impact which focuses on our new processing technology. Hard copies have been sent out.

January - March 2008: Prescribing of drugs affecting the renin-angiotensin system Prescribing Review

The latest edition of the Prescribing Review (Prescribing of drugs affecting the renin-angiotensin system) is now available on the Index of PPD Publications page.

Prescription processing offices closure plan
As part of our programme to bring in our new processing system we are consolidating our existing nine processing sites into three regional sites based in the North East (Newcastle), North West (Horwich) and Yorkshire (Wakefield). We have already started a programme to close our other sites. These are Bolton, Durham, Liverpool, Manchester, Preston, Sheffield and West Bromwich.

PPD is open.
You may have heard that the PPD is planning a number of open days. If you'd like to visit the PPD we have open days planned for the 22 May, 4 June and 2 July. For each day there is a choice of a morning, afternoon or evening session and each will last around 3 hours. Spaces are limited so it is important to book early.

To book your place on one of these visits, please phone 0845 6101171, or email and don't forget to let us know if you have any specific dietary requirements.

Please note that if there is insufficient demand for any session, we may contact you to see if you would like to arrange an alternative session.

Latest edition of Impact is out now.
Click here to read an online pdf copy of Impact, which includes guidance on preparing your batch to send to the NHSBSA PPD, guidance on FP10MDA forms and news about our Sheffield office as well as the prescribing review report on drugs used in asthma and COPD.

If you've received your hard copy, please note that the web address on page 3 should read as in the online version.

Offender Health
From 1st April 2008, following a change to the National Health Service (Charges for Drugs and Appliances) Amendment (No.3) Regulations 2007 (for England only), prisoners released from prison unexpectedly can now take a FP10 or FP10[MDA] to a community pharmacy to obtain their medicines free of charge. The prescription will be written by a prescriber contracted to the prison. This will cover the period of time until the ex-offender can arrange to see their GP, or register with a new GP. Initially this will only apply to a restricted number of sites and be rolled out gradually. For further information please click here for more information

Form to report cases of switching
Please click here to download a form to tell us about prescriptions you believe have been incorrectly switched. The information you send us on this form will be used to assess the impact of changes in PPD processes in checking exemption declarations on the number of forms that are switched and will inform negotiations between the PSNC and the Department of Health on any arrangements to address contractors concerns with increased levels of switching.

Oct - Dec 2007 Drugs Used in Mental Health Prescribing Review
The latest edition of the Prescribing Review (Oct - Dec 2007 Drugs Used in Mental Health) is now available on the Index of PPD Publications page

Controlled Drug Requisitions
From 1st January 2008, pharmacy contractors will be required to submit requisitions used for the supply of schedule 2 and 3 controlled drugs to the NHSBSA PPD for audit purposes following changes to the Misuse of Drug Regulations.

Drugs used in Asthma and COPD Prescribing Review
The latest edition of the Prescribing Review (Jul - Sep 2007 Drugs used in Asthma and COPD) is now available on the Index of PPD Publications page.

Sorting & Submission of Private CD forms
Dispensing contractors are now required to submit original Private Controlled Drug Prescription for schedule 2 and 3 controlled drugs.

The Prescription Pricing Division (PPD) has introduced a Capacity Improvement Programme (CIP) to process prescriptions and to establish the reimbursement and remuneration due to dispensing contractors.

CIP utilises high-speed scanning equipment and intelligent character recognition (ICR) software to automate the capture of printed information from prescription forms. The information captured by scanning is then processed by an automated ‘rules engine’ to determine the payment due to contractors. CIP will replace the existing PPD computer systems ensuring that prescriptions are priced within the required time scales, despite increasing prescription volumes.

Prescriptions that are not identified by the ICR software or processed by the “rules engine” and prescriptions requiring clarification of the reimbursement claim (e.g. brand or quantity dispensed) are fed to an "exception handling" process. This process involves a person examining the prescription and deciding, as now, the reimbursement due to the contractor.

Only a small number of pharmacy contractor accounts will be processed via CIP at this early stage. The PPD expects to process significantly more accounts with future releases of CIP and there will be a gradual roll out to all dispensing contractors.

Individual dispensing contractors will be contacted before the PPD initiates processing of their accounts using CIP.