Boots pharmacists and pharmacist store managers will receive a pro rata £750 payment in August for their "commitment to establishing and delivering NHS core and advanced services", the Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) revealed yesterday (July 29).

The trade union said that the bonus payment was agreed to during November's pay negotiations.

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It added that the “non-consolidated payment” serves as an “acknowledgement” of Boots pharmacists’ dedication to delivering “new pharmacy services” like Pharmacy First.

The one-off payment also recognises “the level of change” that pharmacists have had to deal with during the year, the PDA said.

Pharmacy First at Boots

The news of the services bonus award comes as the NHS Business Services Authority (NHS BSA) last week (July 25) released pharmacy figures for April this year.

According to the new data, Boots stores provided a total of 44,610 Pharmacy First consultations in April, with an average of just over 31 per store. 

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But this is not evenly distributed across stores, with 88 Boots pharmacies registering no Pharmacy First consultations in April, and 842 recording fewer than 30 consultations in the month.

From October, pharmacies face a threshold of 30 Pharmacy First consultations per month to qualify for the £1,000 fixed payment – with the threshold currently set at 10 and rising to 20 from August.