| Repeat Dispensing
as an Essential Service
The
information provided here is for prescribers, dispensers
and PCTs for repeat dispensing as an essential service
within the new community pharmacy contract. The new
contract came into force on the 1st April 2005. There
are three main sections:
The
Payment Process
The Submission
Process
Reporting Information
for PCTs
-
Under the new pharmacy contract repeat dispensing
is part of the essential services that all contractors
are expected to provide. PCTs are not required to
notify the Prescription Pricing Division of contractors who are taking part
in repeat dispensing. From April 2005 the Drug Tariff
provides details of how contractors will be paid for
this service.
-
In addition to the professional fee payable under
Part IIIA for each item dispensed, all contractors
will receive the following payment:
- An
annual payment of £1,500 paid as a £125 monthly
payment
Process For Submitting Repeat
Dispensing Forms
Prescribers
Repeat
Dispensing involves the use of a repeatable
prescription (authorising) form and a number
of batch issue forms. These forms should
be generated by prescribers through their GP practice
systems.
-
Repeatable Prescription (Authorising Forms)
Only the authorising form
must be signed by the prescriber.
The forms must be FP10 prescription forms identifiable
as Repeat Dispensing. Mock-ups of these forms can
be found at http://www.ppa.org.uk/ppa/prescform_overspec.htm
The authorising form should contain prescriber,
patient and prescribed medicine details and include
the number of issues required and the dispensing
interval. This form must be signed
by the prescriber.
-
Batch Issue Forms
The maximum number of batch issue
forms is equivalent to 1 year duration of prescribing
of an individual item. These forms should contain
the same prescriber, patient and prescribed medicine
details as the authorising forms and indicate in the
prescribing area that the form is being used for Repeat
Dispensing. Batch issue forms should not
be signed, however, the prescriber’s signature
box should be annotated with text displaying the words
Repeat Dispensing: XX of YY, where
XX is the number of the batch issue form and YY is
the total number of batch issues covered by the repeatable
prescription (e.g. 1 of 6, 3 of 12, etc.).
NB The date on all of the batch
issues and the repeat authorising form will be the
same.
Dispensers
-
Batch Issue Forms
Dispensed batch issue forms should be submitted to
the Prescription Pricing Division not later than the fifth day of the month
following that in which the supply was made. They
should be in their correct groups, i.e. exempt or
charged groups, within the monthly batch of prescriptions.
The order in which these forms are to be submitted
will be detailed on submission form FP34C. Initial
batch issue forms (i.e. 1 of x) need to be sorted
separately from subsequent batch issue forms (i.e.
2 of x, 3 of x etc.), both sorted by doctor surname
in alphabetical order.
Batch
issue forms which have not been dispensed should not
be submitted to the Prescription Pricing Division. Any forms that become time
expired should be destroyed.
- Repeat
Authorising Forms
Authorising forms should be submitted to the Prescription Pricing Division in
the month following that in which all batch issue
forms have either been dispensed or expired or the
medication is no longer required. It is important
that forms are sorted in the correct order (to be
detailed on the reverse of the updated form FP34C)
when submitted, as this could affect payment. If a
submitted batch of prescriptions includes authorising
forms this should be declared on the submission form
FP34C by ticking the box next to Repeat Authorising
forms.
- Endorsing
Forms
Each
batch issue form should be endorsed as required in
the Drug Tariff Part II Clause 9. In addition a batch
issue form shall be stamped with the pharmacy’s
stamp and dated with the date on which the items were
dispensed.
Repeat Dispensing Reporting Information
for PCTs
Monthly Repeat Dispensing report:
The online system used to provide the PCT
report also provides a repeat dispensing report
for PCTs. Once you have
logged in to the system, you can select either the PCT
Prescribing report or the new Repeat Dispensing report.
This
Repeat Dispensing report shows the following information
for each prescriber, by practice:
- Practice
Code and address.
- Prescriber
code and type.
- Prescriber
name.
- Total
items excluding ‘Batch Issue’ items.
- Total
Batch Issue items.
- Percentage
of total items that are ‘Batch Issue’
items.
- Percentage
of Batch Issue items that are on First ‘Batch
Issue’ forms.
- Percentage
of Batch Issue items that are on Other ‘Batch
Issue’ forms.
- Total
Cost excluding ‘Batch Issue’ items.
- Total
Cost of ‘Batch Issue’ items.
- Percentage
of total costs that are ‘Batch Issue’
item costs.
A
total for each practice stating:
- Total
items excluding ‘Batch Issue’ items.
- Total
Batch Issue Items.
- Percentage
of total item that are ‘Batch Issue’ items.
- Percentage
of Batch Issue items that are on First ‘Batch
Issue’ forms.
- Percentage
of Batch Issue items that are on Other ‘Batch
Issue’ forms.
- Total
Cost excluding ‘Batch Issue’ items.
- Total
Cost of ‘Batch Issue’ items.
- Percentage
of total costs that are ‘Batch Issue’
item costs.
ePACT.net:
The
ePACT.net system also provides the facility for PCT
users to monitor and evaluate Repeat Dispensing by separately
identifying first and other batch issues to individual
drug level. This allows for analysis at PCT, practice
and prescriber levels.
FEEDBACK:
We are trying to make the site as useful as possible
to contractors and would like to invite your feedback
to help achieve this. If there are areas which you feel
could be explained more clearly, or there is any other
information that you would have expected to see which
we have not covered please email your comments to:
Jacqueline
Johnson
jacqueline.johnson@ppa.nhs.uk |
