As a previous dispensary manager, I despair of all the new rules and regulations which seem to land on our door step.
With FMD around the corner surely we have enough to deal with!
But no as from the 1st of July 2018, new regulation have come into force in England, being referred to as ‘Big Brother’ for the dispensary.
The Heath Service Products (Provision and Disclosure of Information Regulations 2018) requires dispensing practices in England only to keep invoices or supporting information related to medicines for NHS dispensing for four years, for presentation on request.
The Health Service Medical Supplies (Costs) Bill, read for the first time in the House of Commons on September 15, plans to improve the transparency of drug purchase margins at the dispensary level by requiring any person involved in the manufacture, supply or distribution of health service medicines to provide information on the cost of those medicines.
The idea then is to harness the information for use in Drug Tariff reimbursements, although this will be subject to normal negotiations between the Dept of Health and NHS England.
The bill makes it clear that it does not envisage that it will be able to receive all information on each transaction, but the objective is to receive information from a wider range of suppliers
So what are we required to keep at dispensary level?
Do these requirements apply to dispensing doctors who also hold a wholesaler’s dealer’s licence?
Yes they do, if the practice has a net income from wholesaling of less than £5 million.
Where can I find more information on this?
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2018/677/pdfs/uksi_20180677_en.pdf