Details of Scotland’s 2023/24 funding package for community pharmacy have been released, in a government circular published last week (August 4).
The global sum remuneration has risen by 6% to £219.5 million, while “guaranteed income” from the drug tariff remained at £80m, it set out.
Read more: Scotland to see ‘largest ever' £12.3m global sum uplift, government reveals
However, the “guaranteed minimum income” increased by 19% to £100m and will be “closely monitored” as the year progresses in case “further action” is required to support pharmacies, according to the circular.
A Scottish government spokesperson told C+D yesterday (August 10) that when other components are included, the Scottish community pharmacy network would have a minimum guaranteed income of “almost £400 million”.
Read more: Community Pharmacy Scotland agrees ‘adequate’ new funding offer for 2023/24
They reiterated that the increase to the global sum was the “largest increase made…to date”.
Among other details revealed in the circular, pharmacy contractors will receive a “one-off payment” from a £1.7m pot to offset April 2023’s lack of adjustment to the drug tariff.
And the NHS Pharmacy First Scotland Service will be funded from an “annualised pool” of £30.8m, it revealed.
“Mutually beneficial”
Community Pharmacy Scotland (CPS) said that the agreement was “mutually beneficial” and would help provide “a more stable financial outlook” for pharmacies after a “relentless and punishing 2022/23 in terms of finance, workforce and workload challenges”.
The period of “uncertainty and insecurity” caused by the “protracted negotiations” was “unfortunate” but “ultimately necessary” to secure the deal, it added.
However, the Scottish negotiator said that the settlement would keep the pharmacy network from achieving “a year of service growth” as it has “enjoyed in the recent past”.
Read more: ‘Far short of what is needed’: CPS rejects government's 2023/24 funding offer
Instead, CPS said that the coming year would be one of “recuperation and consolidation” for Scotland’s “world-leading” pharmacy service.
Speaking to C+D in a personal capacity as a contractor, CPS deputy chair James Semple said that as a pharmacy owner, the settlement had “steadied the ship” and was “adequate to maintain the network”.
He said that over the course of last year, as drug prices rose, margins at pharmacies had shifted from “reasonable to nothing” in a “catastrophic crash”.
Read more: Scottish government provides £20m pharmacy ‘interim cash injection’
But he told C+D that the settlement would “undoubtedly” make this year easier than the “disaster” that was 2022/23.
Mr Semple said that the uplift to the guaranteed minimum income – and the promise to monitor it throughout the year – was the most crucial feature of the deal for him.
He added that the level had previously been an “arbitrary figure” but was nonetheless “acceptable” in the years until the instability of 2022/2023.
“Protracted negotiations”
The details come weeks after CPS first announced that the financial settlement had been struck last month, when it said the deal was “adequate” to provide pharmacies “some solid ground”.
C+D revealed on July 21 that the uplift to the global sum was the “largest ever”, but details remained scant.
Read more: Scotland’s model for pharmacy offers lessons for England’s future
The negotiations between CPS and the Scottish government got off to a rocky start in May, when the negotiator rejected Holyrood’s initial offer as “far short” of what was needed.
At the time, it said that the negotiator’s board “had no choice but to reject it in full”.
However, the Scottish government responded soon after by providing the country’s community pharmacies with a £20m “interim” cash injection.
