CHANGES TO PHARMACY FIRST
REMUNERATION MODEL
The Scottish Government has confirmed a series of amendments to the NHS Pharmacy First Scotland remuneration model.
T
he changes took effect on 1 November 2025, with a full revised service specification expected in 2026.
Adjustments to Weightings on PGDs From November, the weighting applied to Patient Group Direction (PGD) advice and referral activity will remain at 1, while the weighting for treatment will increase from 3 to 5. This adjustment aims to ensure remuneration better reflects the clinical time and expertise required when supplying treatment under PGDs. Pharmacy teams are reminded of their role in supporting the Antimicrobial Resistance Action Plan, ensuring antibiotic supply only when clinically necessary and continuing to claim for ‘advice only’ and ‘referral’ outcomes to support service monitoring.
Pharmacy First Activity Changes A new upper activity threshold has been introduced to ensure funding is shared more equitably across the community pharmacy network. Where a pharmacy exceeds 1,000 Pharmacy First activities in a calendar month, each activity point beyond that threshold will be valued at 0.1.
The calculation will include all Pharmacy First consultations (advice, referral and treatment), PGD consultations and advice and referral claims for the Pharmacy First Plus independent prescribing service. Activity will be monitored over the six months following implementation to assess whether the change has achieved its intended effect, with a review planned afterwards.
New Remuneration Model for Independent Prescribers Contractors with Independent Prescribers (IPs) will continue to receive the existing £3,000 monthly base payment, provided the service is available for at least 25 hours per week over 45 weeks of the year. Contractors operating below this level may still offer Pharmacy First Plus consultations but will not be eligible for the base payment. A key addition is the introduction of a new activity-based remuneration pot for IP prescribing, valued at £0.5 million per month. There will be no minimum threshold for contractors to access this funding.
Eligible claims include prescriptions written by an IP for:
• Prescription Only Medicines (POMs) • Pharmacy (P) or General Sale List (GSL) products not on the approved PFS list
• P or GSL products used outside their licensed restrictions
The activity fee will fall between £30 and £40 per intervention, with the model going live in December 2025. Payments for December activity will be accompanied by retrospective payments for eligible work carried out in November.
Looking Ahead All consultations should continue to be recorded via the Universal Claim Framework (UCF). Any treatment supplied using the standard Pharmacy First list during an IP consultation should be claimed under the standard module, alongside an ‘Advice Only’ claim to indicate IP involvement. The Scottish Government has confirmed that an updated Pharmacy First Scotland service specification will be published in 2026 consolidating recent changes and setting out the next stage of service development. These changes have been developed in consultation with Community Pharmacy Scotland.
scotpharm.com 9
A KEY ADDITION IS THE INTRODUCTION OF A NEW ACTIVITY-BASED REMUNERATION POT
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48
