Published 13 October 2022

Key findings

  • There were 11,500 active community pharmacies and 111 active appliance contractors in England during 2021/22. This is the lowest number of active contractors since 2015/16.

  • A total of 308 new pharmacies opened during 2021/22, while 418 pharmacies closed.

  • 1.05 billion prescription items were dispensed by community pharmacies and appliance contractors in England in 2021/22. This is a 2.65% increase from 2020/21.

  • 1.00 billion prescription items were dispensed via the Electronic Prescription Service (EPS) in 2021/22, 95.3% of all items dispensed, an increase of 1.35 percentage points from 2020/21.

  • The cost of drugs and appliances reimbursed to community pharmacies and appliance contractors totalled £9.05 billion in 2021/22. This is a 0.83% increase from 2020/21.

  • 4.85 million seasonal influenza vaccines were administered by community pharmacies in 2021/22. This was a 75.1% increase from the 2.77 million vaccines administered in 2020/21.

1. Introduction

This publication is a National Statistic release. National Statistics status means that General Pharmaceutical Services (GPhS) - England meets the highest standards of trustworthiness, quality, and public value, and complies with all aspects of the Code of Practice for Statistics.

The designation of this publication as a National Statistic was confirmed in December 2021 following an assessment by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). You can read more about this confirmation and the assessment of these statistics on the OSR website.

1.1 Scope

From 1 April 2013, NHS England became responsible for the commissioning of NHS pharmaceutical services in England and for negotiating changes to arrangements for the provision of services. The Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF) for pharmacy contractors is set out in the The National Health Service (Pharmaceutical and Local Pharmaceutical Services) Regulations 2013, and the Pharmaceutical Services (Advanced and Enhanced Services) (England) Directions 2013 are contained within the Drug Tariff for England and Wales.

In order to be able to provide pharmaceutical services for the NHS, the 2013 regulations state that a person (other than doctors or dentists) must be included in a pharmaceutical list. NHS England are required to prepare and maintain lists of those who have been granted applications. The list specifies both the premises and the named contractor.

To receive payment for the costs and fees incurred while providing services to the general public on behalf of the NHS, community pharmacies and appliance contractors must submit their prescriptions to NHSBSA along with a submission document, known as the FP34C. This has recently been digitised by the Manage Your Submission (MYS) application but was historically done via a paper form that accompanied paper prescription batches.

Data regarding advanced services such as the provision of new medicines service (NMS) and appliance use reviews (AURs) is taken from the FP34C submission document, or from the MYS application. This is then passed to NHSBSA payment systems to calculate account level payments that are to be made to community pharmacies and appliance contractors.

Data is collected from the submission of prescriptions by dispensing contractors to the NHSBSA. These prescriptions can be issued by GPs and other authorised prescribers such as nurses, dentists, and allied health professionals. Prescriptions that are issued by hospitals can also be dispensed in the community and submitted for reimbursement. Prescriptions that are issued in hospitals and fulfilled by the hospital pharmacy or dispensary are not included in this data.

Data is limited in this publication to only prescription items that have been dispensed by a community pharmacy or appliance contractor in England. Items dispensed by dispensing doctors, hospitals or prisons or submitted for reimbursement via a personal administration account have been excluded.

Data on advanced services provided by community pharmacies and appliance contractors is limited to where a claim has been submitted to NHSBSA in relation to performing one of those services. Counts around the number of services provided are based upon the number of times a fee has been paid to a contractor. The figures around the number of contractors that provide a service are based upon the number of contractors that have received payment of at least one fee for that service.

This publication aims to describe the details of community pharmacy and appliance contractor activity in England across the whole financial year.

These statistics detail:

  • the number of prescription items dispensed.
  • the reimbursement costs of prescription items dispensed.
  • the number of single activity fees they have received.
  • the remuneration costs of single activity fees received.
  • the number of essential and advanced services that they have provided.
  • the associated costs for essential and advanced services.

These statistics cover the financial years between April 2015 and March 2022.

1.2 Definitions

A dispensing contractor or dispenser can be a community pharmacy or appliance contractor. Community pharmacies can dispense both drugs and appliances, but appliance contractors are limited to the supply of appliances as listed in Part IXA, IXB and IXC of the Drug Tariff.

Throughout this publication the term ‘item’, short for ‘prescription item’, refers to a single instance of a drug that is listed as a separate entry on a prescription form. For example, Paracetamol 500mg tablets x28 would be listed as one item, as would Ibuprofen 200mg tablets x56.

Prescription forms include both paper prescriptions and electronic messages sent via the Electronic Prescription Service (EPS). EPS allows prescribers to send prescriptions electronically to a dispenser (such as a pharmacy) of the patient’s choice. This makes the prescribing and dispensing process more efficient and convenient for patients and staff.

There are many costs incurred when a dispensing contractor fulfils a prescription. The term cost refers to the basic price of the item and quantity prescribed that is reimbursed back to the contractor. This is sometimes called the ‘Net Ingredient Cost’ (NIC). Costs paid to contractors to cover the cost of dispensed items are referred to as reimbursement.

Fees are also payable to dispensing contractors for dispensing and for providing essential and advanced services to NHS patients. Many, but not all, fees are described in these summary statistics alongside their accompanying summary tables. Details of what fees are payable to community pharmacies and appliance contractors can be found in the Drug Tariff for England and Wales. Fee payments to dispensing contractors for prescribing and other services are known as remuneration.

Further definitions of terms used in this publication can be found in the Glossary of the Background Information and Methodology supporting document that accompanies this release.

2. Results and commentary

The charts in these statistics are interactive and allow you to isolate the topics that you are interested in by selecting or deselecting a series from the legend of the chart. For example, if you only want to view data for community pharmacies, you can click the other categories in the legend of the chart to deselect them. If you wish to include them again just click on their legend entry once more.

Essential Services for Contractors

Essential services are those listed in the NHS CPCF that all pharmacy contractors must provide to NHS patients.

Figure 1: Number of community pharmacies and appliance contractors between 2015/16 and 2021/22

Source: Summary Tables - General Pharmaceutical Services - Table 1

The number of community pharmacies and appliance contractors in England has remained fairly consistent for the past six years. However, the number of active community pharmacies in 2021/22 is the lowest it has been in the previous six years. This follows three consecutive years of decreases, with the number of community pharmacies decreasing by 3.76% between 2017/18 and 2021/22.

The number of appliance contractors in England changed in 2021/22 for the first time since 2018/19, decreasing by one.

Figure 2: Total items dispensed by community pharmacies and appliance contractors between 2015/16 and 2021/22

Source: Summary Tables - General Pharmaceutical Services - Table 3 and 10

The number of items dispensed by community pharmacies in England between 2020/21 and 2021/22 increased by 2.59% from 1.02 billion to 1.04 billion. Overall, the number of items dispensed is 4.80% higher than the 995 million items dispensed in 2015/16.

The number of items dispensed by appliance contractors in 2021/22 increased by 8.86% from 2020/21. This has increased each year since 2015/16, from 7.91 million to 10.9 million items. This is an increase of 37.9%.

Figure 3: Average number of items dispensed per contractor between 2015/16 and 2021/22

Source: Summary Tables - General Pharmaceutical Services - Table 3 and 10

The yearly average number of items dispensed per contractor has been calculated by dividing the total number of items dispensed by the total number of contractors. This average is a mean.

The average number of items dispensed per contractor has increased by 3.60% from 87,400 in 2020/21 to 90,500 in 2021/22. This is an increase of 8.68% from the average of 83,300 in 2015/16.

The average yearly items dispensed for appliance contractors has increased each year since 2015/16 and has now surpassed the average items dispensed for community pharmacies, at 98,300 in 2021/22. This is a 44.1% increase from 2015/16.

Figure 4: Number of items dispensed via the Electronic Prescription Service (EPS) between 2015/16 and 2021/22

Source: Summary Tables - General Pharmaceutical Services - Table 3 and 10

An NHS prescription can be fulfilled by either a paper form presented to a contractor by a patient, or by the Electronic Prescription Service (EPS). Since 2015/16 the proportion of prescription items that have been dispensed via EPS by community pharmacies and appliance contractors has increased significantly, and EPS is now the primary method that prescriptions are issued and dispensed by.

In 2015/16, 355 million prescription items were dispensed via EPS, which was just 35.4% of all items in the year. In 2021/22, 1.00 billion prescription items were dispensed via EPS by community pharmacies and appliance contractors, which was 95.3% of all items in the year. This is an increase of 1.35 percentage points from 2020/21 and an increase of 59.9 percentage points between 2015/16 and 2021/22.

Additionally in 2021/22, 99.3% of all contractors dispensed at least one prescription item via EPS, an increase from 97.5% in 2015/16.

Figure 5: Total costs and value of fees received for contractors between 2015/16 and 2021/22

Source: Summary Tables - General Pharmaceutical Services - Table 3 and 10

Contractors can receive many payments for fulfilling a prescription. These include being reimbursed for the basic price of the drug or appliance they have dispensed and receiving fees that relate to the dispensing of that item. There are many fees that can be claimed by a contractor depending on the item that is dispensed. Details of what fees are payable to community pharmacies and appliance contractors can be found in the Drug Tariff for England and Wales.

The ‘single activity fee’ (SAF) is a fixed fee that applies to every prescription item that is dispensed. The SAF was introduced in December 2016 by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) to consolidate a range of payments into one single fee. These payments were:

  • The professional fee (also known as dispensing fee)
  • Practice payment
  • Repeat dispensing payment
  • EPS monthly allowance

The value of the SAF is set by DHSC and can fluctuate throughout the year. It is based upon the forecast of the total number of items dispensed to ensure that the fee delivery remains within the agreed funding envelope for the year. Table 1 displays the value of the SAF and the dates that it has changed.

Table 1: Dispensing fees, their value, and when they came into effect

Source: The Drug Tariff for England and Wales

Figure 5 shows the total value of costs for drugs and appliances reimbursed to contractors, along with the value of all SAFs that have been claimed. This is not the total amount paid to contractors for dispensing an item as many fees are not included in these figures, such as additional fees that apply to controlled drugs.

Costs reimbursed to contractors increased in 2021/22, for the third consecutive year. Costs increased by 0.83% between 2020/21 and 2021/22 from £8.97 billion to £9.05 billion. This is a seven year high.

The value of SAFs received by contractors increased in 2021/22 by 3.90% to £1.37 billion from £1.31 billion in 2020/21, which was a return to trend following a decrease in 2020/21 but following five years of increases between 2015/16 and 2019/20. The value has increased from £920 million in 2015/16 to £1.31 billion in 2021/22, an increase of 48.4%. This has been driven by increases in the amount received for each SAF, from 90p in April 2015 to 129p in August 2021. It should be noted, prior to December 2016 the figures reported are for professional fees only, and do not include the three additional payments that the SAF consists of.

Advanced Services for Contractors

There are several Advanced Services within the NHS Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF). Community pharmacies can choose to provide any of these services as long as they meet the requirements set out in the Secretary of State Directions.

Seasonal influenza vaccination advanced service

In 2015 community pharmacies began providing seasonal influenza vaccinations under a nationally commissioned service by NHS England & Improvement. Each year from September through to March pharmacy contractors can administer flu vaccines to patients and submit a claim to NHSBSA for payment. This includes reimbursement of the cost of the vaccine, plus a fee for providing the service to NHS patients.

The figures in these statistics for flu vaccinations only relate to those administered by community pharmacies, and do not include vaccines issued to GP patients, healthcare workers, or children of primary school age. Official Statistics for these are produced by UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).

Figure 6: Number of flu vaccinations provided by contractors between 2015/16 and 2021/22

Source: Summary Tables - General Pharmaceutical Services - Table 8

The number of vaccines administered by pharmacies as part of the Flu Vaccination Advanced Service has increased by 8.15 times since the service began in 2015/16. In 2021/22 there were 4.85 million vaccines administered by 9,860 community pharmacies at an average of 492 vaccines per pharmacy. This was an increase of 75.1% on the 2.77 million vaccines administered in 2020/21.

Table 2: Average number of flu vaccines provided per community pharmacy that provides the advanced service between 2015/16 and 2021/22

Source: Summary Tables - General Pharmaceutical Services - Table 8

The average number of flu vaccines administered per community pharmacy has been calculated by dividing the total number of flu vaccines administered for each year by the total number of community pharmacies that have provided the service. This average is a mean.

The average number of flu vaccines administered per community pharmacy that provides the seasonal influenza advanced service follows a similar trend to the total number of flu vaccines administered. In 2021/22 the average number of flu vaccines administered per community pharmacy was 492. This is 5.95 times the average in 2015/16, which was 83.

Figure 7: Cost and fees for flu vaccinations provided by contractors between 2015/16 and 2021/22

Source: Summary Tables - General Pharmaceutical Services - Table 8

In line with the increase in the number of flu vaccines administered each year, the costs reimbursed and fees paid to community pharmacies as part of the advanced service have increased dramatically. The costs of vaccines administered have increased by 13.3 times between 2015/16 and 2021/22, from £3.75 million to £49.8 million.

The value of fees paid to pharmacies for delivering the flu vaccination service has increased by 8.54 times between 2015/16 and 2021/22, from £5.44 million to £46.5 million.

New Medicine Service

The New Medicine Service (NMS) is an Advanced Service within the NHS Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework. The service provides support for people with long-term conditions newly prescribed a medicine to help improve medicines adherence; it is focused on specific patient groups and conditions. Details of the currently covered patient groups can be found in the NHS England Service Specification.

The fee for NMS varies between £20 and £28 depending on the volume of prescriptions dispensed by a contractor and the number of NMSs undertaken.

Figure 8: Total New Medicine Services undertaken by community pharmacies between 2015/16 and 2021/22

Source: Summary Tables - General Pharmaceutical Services - Table 8

The number of NMSs claimed in 2021/22 increased by 125% from 933,000 in 2020/21 to 2.10 million in 2021/22, a return to trend after a decrease in 2020/21 following five years of increases. The number of NMSs is 155% higher than the 822,000 claimed in 2015/16.

During 2021/222 a catch-up NMS was introduced for patients who were prescribed a new medicine but did not receive an NMS or any additional support during the COVID-19 pandemic.This catch-up service was offered to eligible patients between 1st September 2021 and 31st March 2022.

Figure 9: Total Cost of New Medicine Services undertaken by community pharmacies between 2015/16 and 2021/22

Source: Summary Tables - General Pharmaceutical Services - Table 8

In line with the increase in the number of NMSs provided, the fees paid to community pharmacies as part of the advanced service have increased by 130% from £23.4 million in 2020/21 to £53.9 million in 2021/22 and are 166% higher than the £20.3 million paid in 2015/16.

Appliance Use Review (AUR)

Appliance Use Review (AUR) is an Advanced Service in the NHS Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF). AURs can be carried out by a pharmacist or a specialist nurse in the pharmacy or at the patient’s home.

A fee of £28 is payable for an Appliance Use Review conducted on contractor’s premises or by telephone or video link where clinically appropriate1 managed by the pharmacy or appliance contractor. A fee of £54 is payable for a review conducted at the patient’s home. When carrying out AURs for multiple patients living at the same property in the same 24 hours, only the first AUR is paid at the home rate with subsequent AURs paid at the lower premises rate.

The total number of Appliance Use Reviews that an appliance or pharmacy contractor may claim fees for will be limited to one for every 35 Part IXA (qualifying items), Part IXB and Part IXC prescription items dispensed in the financial year of the claim.

1. This was introduced as of 1 September 2020.

Figure 10: Total Appliance Use Reviews (AUR) provided between 2015/16 and 2021/22

Source: Summary Tables - General Pharmaceutical Services - Table 6

In 2021/22 the number of AURs increased by 61.9% from 2020/21, which had seen a decrease after 5 years of steady increases. During 2020/21 regional and national restrictions were introduced to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic. This included restrictions on face-to-face services between patients and pharmacies. Telephone and video options were introduced for AURs during the COVID-19 pandemic, although these were not available for the full year. The number of AURs carried out in 2020/21 increased by 92.2% compared to 2015/16.

This advanced service can be offered by both community pharmacies and appliance contractors and a breakdown by contractor type and AUR type can be found in Table 6 in the accompanying summary tables.

Figure 11: Total Cost of Appliance Use Reviews (AUR) provided between 2015/16 and 2021/22

Source: Summary Tables - General Pharmaceutical Services - Table 6

The total cost of fees for Appliance Use Reviews increased by 30.9% in 2021/22 to £2.73 million from the £2.09 million paid in 2021/22. In line with the increase in the number of reviews undertaken, the total paid was 47.9% higher than the £1.85 million paid in 2015/16.

Stoma Appliance Customisation

Stoma Appliance Customisation (SAC) is an Advanced Service in the NHS Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF). The service involves the customisation of stoma appliances, based on the patient’s measurements or a template. The aim of the service is to ensure proper use and comfortable fitting of the stoma appliance and to improve the duration of usage, thereby reducing waste. The stoma appliances that can be customised are listed in Part IXC of the Drug Tariff.

A fee of £4.32 is payable for every Part IXC prescription item that can be customised as denoted in the Drug Tariff. The fee does not have to be claimed and will be paid automatically to those pharmacy and appliance contractors in England who have registered their intent to provide stoma appliance customisation services to the NHSBSA.

Figure 12: Total Stoma Appliance Customisation (SAC) provided between 2015/16 and 2021/22

Source: Summary Tables - General Pharmaceutical Services - Table 6

The number of SACs provided by community pharmacies decreased by 28.0% from 11,600 to 8,330 between 2020/21 and 2021/22. This followed 5 consecutive years of decreases between 2015/16 and 2020/21. The number of SACs provided by appliance contractors between 2020/21 and 2021/22 went up by 5.23% from 1.52 million to 1.60 million. This followed 5 consecutive years of increases between 2015/16 and 2021/22.

The majority of SACs are provided by appliance contractors, which means the reduction in those provided by community pharmacies has not prevented an overall increase. The total number of SACs has increased by 4.98% from 1.54 million to 1.61 million between 2020/21 and 2021/22. This is an increase of 30.2% from the 1.24 million provided in 2015/16.

Figure 13: Total Stoma Appliance Customisation (SAC) provided between 2015/16 and 2021/22

Source: Summary Tables - General Pharmaceutical Services - Table 6

The fee for Stoma Appliance Customisation is a set payment that has not changed since its introduction so the increase in the cost of the fees mirrors the increasing trend for the number of SACs carried out. In total, £6.96 million was spent in 2021/22 compared to £6.63 million in 2015/16. In line with the increase in the number of SACs provided each year, the fees paid to community pharmacies as part of the advanced service have increased. As the SAC is a set payment that has not changed since its introduction this percentage increase for 2021/22 is also 4.98%.

Community Pharmacist Consultation Services

The NHS Community Pharmacist Consultation Service (CPCS) Advanced Service began on 29 October 2019 to allow patients to have a same day community pharmacist appointment for a minor illness or an urgent supply of a regular medicine.

The service is intended to improve access to services and provide treatment closer to patients’ homes by harnessing the skills and medicines knowledge of pharmacists and relieving pressure on GP appointments and emergency departments.

From 1 November 2020, general practices have been able to refer patients for a minor illness consultation via CPCS, once a local referral pathway has been agreed.

The fee for providing the Community Pharmacist Consultation Service is £14 (including VAT) per consultation.

No data prior to 2019/20 is available for Community Pharmacy Consultation Services.

Figure 14: Total Cost of Community Pharmacy Consultation Services 2021/22

Source: Summary Tables - General Pharmaceutical Services - Table 7

The cost of fees paid for Community Pharmacy Consultation Services in 2021/22 was £12.6 million, a 81.4% increase on the £5.31 million claimed in 2020/21.

Figure 15: Total Cost of GP referral pathway to the Community Pharmacist Consultation Service engagement fees

Source: Summary Tables - General Pharmaceutical Services - Table 7

From November 2020, pharmacies that completed engagement activity in the NHS CPCS service specification could also receive a £300 activity payment called the GP referral pathway engagement fee.

The cost of GP referral pathway engagement fees in 2021/22 was £1.76 million, a 39.2% increase on the £1.27 million claimed in 2020/21.

Figure 16: Total Cost of Drugs provided during Community Pharmacy Consultation Services 2021/22

Source: Summary Tables - General Pharmaceutical Services - Table 7

The cost of drugs paid for Community Pharmacy Consultation Services in 2021/22 was £2.84 million, an 81.4% increase on the £1.56 million claimed in 2020/21.

Community Pharmacy Home Delivery Services

The Community Pharmacy Home Delivery Service was introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Initially used to deliver prescriptions to patients who were extremely clinically vulnerable the service was active from April 2020 to 31 July 2020, then from 5 November 2020 to 3 December 2020. The service continued in Tier 4 areas until it was recommenced from 5 January 2021 to 31 March 2021. After this date the service was ended for clinically extremely vulnerable (CEV) patients but is still available to patients who have been advised to self-isolate by NHS Test and Trace. Home Delivery Services became available to self-isolating patients on 16 March 2021. The data held does not differentiate between delivery services for CEV and those in self-isolation.

The fee for providing the Home Delivery Service is £6 (including VAT) per delivery.

Figure 17: Total Community Pharmacy Home Delivery Services 2021/22

Source: Summary Tables - General Pharmaceutical Services - Table 9

No data prior to 2020/21 is available for Community Pharmacy Home Delivery Services which were introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic; therefore, we have presented this data monthly. Variation in the monthly amount of this service lines up with the time periods it was active. A total of 456,000 Home Delivery Services were claimed, with the greatest number being in April 2021 with 135,000. This service was ended on 31 March 2022.

Figure 18: Total Cost of Community Pharmacy Home Delivery Services 2021/22

Source: Summary Tables - General Pharmaceutical Services - Table 9

The cost of fees paid for the Home Delivery Services had the same variation as the number of home deliveries with a total of £2.74 million paid for Home Delivery Services. April 2021 was the highest value month with £808,000 in fees paid.

Community Pharmacy Covid-19 Lateral Flow Device Distribution Service

Community Pharmacy Covid-19 Lateral Flow Device Distribution Service is an Advanced Service in the NHS Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF). The service was introduced in March 2021 and ended on 31 March 2022.

The service made lateral flow device (LFD) test kits readily available at community pharmacies. The service was part of the Government’s offer of lateral flow testing to all people in England and it worked alongside NHS Test and Trace’s other COVID-19 testing routes.

Pharmacies who registered for the service received a one-off set-up fee of £250 plus VAT. An early sign-up fee of £200 plus VAT was also available for pharmacies who signed up to provide the service by 18 April 2021.

From 29 March 2021, a service fee of £1.50 plus VAT per transaction applied.

From 4 October 2021 there were two service fees:

  • A service fee of £1.70 plus VAT per transaction using a collect code
  • A service fee of £1.20 plus VAT per transaction not using a collect code.

Figure 19: Total Cost of Community Pharmacy Covid-19 Lateral Flow Device Distribution Services fees 2021/22

Source: Summary Tables - General Pharmaceutical Services - Table 9

The cost of Community Pharmacy Covid-19 Lateral Flow Device Distribution Services fees in 2021/22 was £66.0 million.

This does not include any cost for the Lateral Flow Devices which were supplied free of charge to pharmacies providing the service as part of their standard deliveries from wholesalers. Data on the cost of devices is not held by the NHSBSA.

Enhanced Services for Contractors

As well as national services provided by all pharmacies, the NHS Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF) also includes services that are commissioned at a local level, known as Local Enhanced Services (LES).

In December 2021, provisions were made within the NHS (Pharmaceutical and Local Pharmaceutical Services) Regulations 2013 for a new type of Enhanced service, the National Enhanced Service. Under this type of service, NHS England And Improvement (NHSE&I) commissions an Enhanced service that is nationally specified.

Data is not available for most Local Enhanced Services because the NHSBSA holds data of amounts paid but not which locally commissioned service these payments were assigned to. An exception was the COVID-19 vaccination enhanced service which began as a local enhanced service.

COVID-19 vaccination enhanced service

Towards the end of 2020/21 community pharmacies began providing COVID-19 vaccinations as a local enhanced service to deliver Phase 1 and Phase 2 cohorts of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). A further enhanced service was commissioned to deliver Phase 3 which was provided alongside the seasonal influenza vaccination programme, which runs each autumn.

The figures in these statistics for COVID-19 vaccinations only relate to those administered by community pharmacies. Official Statistics for all COVID-19 vaccinations are produced by UK Health Security Agency.

Figure 20: Total Costs for COVID-19 vaccinations fees provided by contractors in 2021/22

Source: Summary Tables - General Pharmaceutical Services - Table 9

The costs of COVID-19 vaccines fees in 2021/22 were £334 million, with a peak starting in autumn when Phase 3 launched.

The COVID-19 vaccines made available under this enhanced service are provided to the pharmacy contractor free of charge, therefore no data on the cost of the vaccine is held by the NHSBSA.

3. About these statistics

The General Pharmaceutical Services publication (GPhS) is a National Statistic release. National Statistics Status means that GPhS meets the highest standards of trustworthiness, quality, public value, and complies with all aspects of the Code of Practice for Statistics.

The designation of this publication as a National Statistic was confirmed in December 2021 following an assessment by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR).

3.1. Changes made to this publication

Changes to the statistical narrative

Details of the Medicines Use Reviews (MUR) service have been removed. This service was decommissioned on 31 March 2021. Historical data is included in the summary tables.

Some data regarding COVID-19 related services that were undertaken by pharmacies are included in this release.

This includes data and payments on:

  • COVID-19 testing
  • COVID-19 vaccines

Additions to the summary tables

Data regarding the essential service Discharge Medicine Service and the advanced services of Hypertension Case-Finding and Hepatitis C testing have also been added to the summary tables.

Data relating to covid-19 related services have also been added to the supporting summary tables:

  • COVID-19 testing
  • COVID-19 vaccines
  • COVID-19 personal protective equipment (PPE)
  • COVID-19 premises and refrigeration set up
  • Additional COVID-19 related costs

Changes to the summary tables

Following user feedback changes to the tables have been made to make them easier to use.

Tables 1 and 2 have been split into further tables to make them more user-friendly, grouping together similar data.

The supporting summary tables have been pivoted into a ‘long’ format to increase machine readability in line with recognised best practice to make spread sheets more accessible.

Previously some figures in the supplementary tables regarding fees and fee counts had been rounded to the nearest 10, to reflect that these figures are estimated based on claims by contractors and that work will be done to confirm these payments. This rounding has been discontinued as the figures, while based on claims are based on the values paid to contractors. Users should always use the statistics in the latest release of the publication to make sure they are the most up to date figures available.

In July 2022 Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) replaced Sustainability and Transformation Plans (STPs) as the legal organisations responsible for commissioning pharmaceutical services. In these statistics we have used the latest NHS organisational structure.

3.2. Accuracy of these statistics

Further information on the accuracy of the data used in this publication is available in the Background Information and Methodology. Detail regarding the impact of post payment verification (PPV) and other checks carried out by NHS Prescription Services (a division of NHSBSA) on the statistics is available in the Impacts of errors identified on the accuracy of the General Pharmaceutical Services supporting document that accompanied the 2020/21 publication.

3.3. PHS1 Pharmacy Data Collection

Data that has previously been obtained from the NHS Digital PHS1 Pharmacy Data collection is no longer available, as the collection exercise no longer takes place. An alternative data source for this data has not been identified which means this information has not been included in this report. However, some information previously included on the PHS1, such as pharmacy openings and closures and some exempt categories has been sourced from the NHSBSA administrative records.

Versions of this publication released by NHS Digital are available on the NHS Digital website. Users should always use the statistics in the latest release of the publication to make sure they are the most up to date figures available.

3.4. Uses of these statistics

These statistics can be used to understand the activity of community pharmacies and appliance contractors in England, including essential and advanced services provided to NHS patients. They cannot be used to provide the total number or cost of prescription items dispensed in England in the community as they do not contain dispensing from all sources. This can be obtained from another NHSBSA National Statistic publication, Prescription Cost Analysis.

3.5. Timeliness of this publication

The publication date by NHS Digital has historically been in November, as continued by the first in series of this publication by the NHSBSA. The publication was brought forward to October and the NHSBSA will be looking to bring this forward again for the 2022/23 release.

3.6. Geographies included in this publication

The geographies used in this publication are based upon NHSBSA administrative records, not geographical health boundaries as defined by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). These administrative records more closely reflect the operational organisation of dispensing contractors than other geographical data sources such as the National Statistics Postcode Lookup (NSPL).

The NHS England Regions and Integrated care boards (ICBs) shown in the statistical summary tables of this release are based on the new NHS organisational structure as of July 2022.

3.7 Planned changes to this publication

The NHSBSA is currently developing an open data set public feed based on the monthly Management Information Spreadsheet (MIS) report. This is intended for release by April 2023 and will compliment this National Statistic publication. This new data set will not be an Official Statistic release.

NHSBSA plans to expand the scope of this publication in future releases to report on all fees that a contractor can claim for providing NHS services, in order to provide a more complete picture of the total cost of community pharmacy to the public purse. Next year’s release will include the advanced services of Smoking Cessation Service (SCS) which commenced in late March 20222 and Pharmacy Contraception Service due to commence in January 2023.

2. Although this service commenced in 2021/2022, no data is held for the 2021/22 publication due to the timing of the service start.

4. Statistical Disclosure Control

The high-level figures in this statistical summary have been rounded where appropriate for clarity, in most cases to three significant figures. This is to make this narrative as accessible as possible to all readers. The summary tables released with this publication allow users to investigate this data at lower levels of granularity.

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Responsible statistician: Kirsty Gray