CPE responds to Kinnock’s ‘£850m medicine margin’ statement
In response to a recent Parliamentary question regarding pharmacy reimbursement, pharmacy minister Stephen Kinnock stated that pharmacies were permitted to
retain £850 million from the medicine margin for 2023/24.
The medicine margin represents the difference between the product price reimbursed by the National Health Service (NHS) and the price at which pharmacies buy them.
Rebecca Smith, the Conservative MP for South West Devon, inquired about the number and proportion of community pharmacies that had dispensed medications at a loss
over the past three years.
Kinnock replied that they do not hold this information, and explained that community pharmacy reimbursement arrangements “do not aim to ensure that every pharmacy
is paid as much or more than it paid for every product, but aims overall to reimburse as much as they were bought for, plus the allowed medicine margin.”
Additionally, the minister highlighted that as part of the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF) for 2023/24, pharmacies are allowed to retain “£850
million from the medicine margin, on top of what they are paid for the medicines they purchase as part of providing NHS services.”