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Oct
28

Price Concessions October 2015

BY GREG BULL  |  POSTED IN GENERAL NEWS
The Department of Health have granted the following price concessions for October 2015: Drug Pack size Price concession Celiprolol 200mg tablets     28 £19.83 Cimetidine 400mg tablets  60 £6.55 Clindamycin 150mg capsules  24 £13.25 ...
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Oct
28

Is This Item Allowed on a Prescripton?

BY GREG BULL  |  POSTED IN GENERAL NEWS
Statistically speaking one of the most common questions asked of the NHS Prescription Services Drug Tariff helpline staff is: “Can I dispense this item against an NHS?prescription? And will I?be reimbursed for it?” Any item dispensed without reimbursement obviously causes a loss to the dispensing  contractor. In retail pharmacy and dispensing doctor dispenseries where ma...
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Oct
28

Falling GP Income and More

BY GREG BULL  |  POSTED IN GENERAL NEWS
Official data released recently reveals that falls in income for salaried GPs overall across the UK were broadly in line with those for all GPs, whose income fell around 3% from 2012/13 to 2013/14. Average income before tax for all salaried GPs in the UK in 2013/14 was £54,600 - down 3.3% from £56,400 in 2012/13, data from the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC)...
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Oct
28

Category M cuts will consider dispensing practice, NHSE pledges

BY GREG BULL  |  POSTED IN GENERAL NEWS
“There will be no downward adjustments to Category M without considering the impact on dispensing doctors”. In addition, NHS England will continue to work with the Dispensing Doctors’ Association  to find a better system for reimbursement, NHSE head of primary care policy and contracts Deborah Jaines has promised dispensing practice teams. In a 2015 annual confere...
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Oct
28

Engage in EPS PR

BY GREG BULL  |  POSTED IN GENERAL NEWS
“Practices faced with the Electronic Prescription Service need to engage in a PR exercise with their dispensing patients.” Patients need to realise that they don’t have to use the EPS and can opt for the ‘no change’ situation,” the DDA told members at its 2015 annual conference. In an update on IT in dispensing practice, DDA chairman Dr Richard West sa...
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Oct
21

Are Your Prescriptions Being Returned?

BY GREG BULL  |  POSTED IN GENERAL NEWS
A few common areas to check to avoid prescriptions being returned are:  • Is there a prescriber signature? • Is the quantity (or strength where necessary) stated? • Is the presentation stated? • Is the item ‘blacklisted’? • Does the item require ‘SLS’ endorsement? • Appliances/Devices including dressings – is the item and s...
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Oct
21

Temazepam Prescription Writing Reminder

BY GREG BULL  |  POSTED IN GENERAL NEWS
Writing Reminder Don’t forget that from the1st June of this year prescriptions for temazepam must be fully compliant with the prescription writing requirements for Schedule 3 Controlled Drugs. Prescriptions for Temazepam must now contain the following information:    dose    form   strength (where appropriate)   total quantity of the preparation in bot...
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Oct
20

Seven Day Prescribing and Dispensing

BY GREG BULL  |  POSTED IN GENERAL NEWS
Seven Day Prescribing and Dispensing It is the opinion of Dispex that where there is a significant clinical or social need the patient must be entitled to a seven day prescription. The prescriber must be able to argue rationally for making such a choice in the case of each patient where seven day prescribing [and dispensing] is undertaken. The prescriber’s first duty of care is alw...
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Oct
20

Winter campaign starts with largest flu vaccination programme

BY GREG BULL  |  POSTED IN GENERAL NEWS
Public Health England (PHE) and NHS England launch a major campaign to help people stay well over the winter months. The Stay Well This Winter campaign begins with a national flu vaccination programme for children. This year the programme is being extended to children in school years 1 and 2, and aims to help 3 million children between the ages of 2 and 6. For the first time, the youn...
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Oct
8

October 2015 Price Concessions

BY GREG BULL  |  POSTED IN GENERAL NEWS
The Department of Health have granted the following price concessions for October 2015: Drug Pack size Price concession Celiprolol 200mg tablets   28 £19.83 Cimetidine 400mg tablets  60 £6.55 Clindamycin 150mg capsules  24 £13.25 Dicl...
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Oct
8

What's Your Learning Style?

BY GREG BULL  |  POSTED IN GENERAL NEWS
As human beings we all learn new things in our own way. We are all so unique and individual so why should the way we process information be any different. We all have our own ways of filtering the information and these ways of learning are what enable us to gain an understanding of a certain topic. By utilising these styles we can work out how we learn best and adapt information to suit ...
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Oct
2

30m prescriptions wrongly handed out for ‘free’

BY GREG BULL  |  POSTED IN COMPANY NEWS
Almost 30 million prescriptions were wrongly handed out ‘for free’ last year, according to a new report on healthcare fraud. In the report,  The financial cost of healthcare fraud 2015, accountants and business advisors PKF Littlejohn state that by failing to collect charges on 29.4m prescriptions, dispensers cost the NHS nearly £237m in ‘lost’ prescrip...
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Oct
2

Drug Tariff correction

BY GREG BULL  |  POSTED IN COMPANY NEWS
Eprosartan price misprint Contractors in England and Wales should note that the basic price of the following products is displayed incorrectly in Part VIIIA of the October 2015 Drug Tariff. The correct prices are: Eprosartan 300mg tablets £7.24 Eprosartan 400mg tablets £24.41 Eprosartan 600mg tablets £14.17 Reimbursement for these items is not affected. Article s...
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Oct
2

NHS calls for a change to branded medicines prices

BY GREG BULL  |  POSTED IN COMPANY NEWS
NHS calls for a change to branded medicines prices Non PPRS members face changes to NHS sales terms A change to the way branded medicines are paid for by the NHS has been proposed by the Department of Health. Affecting Statutory Scheme members only, the consultation proposes a number of options, including the preferred option of moving to a process where companies make percen...
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Oct
2

Trick or Treat from Dispex

BY GREG BULL  |  POSTED IN GENERAL NEWS
Have A Spook-tacular Halloween! This Halloween we’re offering Dispex members a treat, no tricks here! Book two members of staff onto the same October 2015 training course and receive an enhanced discount of 10% off the members delegate price of £75+vat per person. This offer is only valid for booking forms received between the 28th...
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