DDA renews call for EPS funding after new dispensing fee analysis

Continual assertions by the DHSC that the dispensing fee covers expenses such as the Electronic Prescription Service (EPS) are wearing thin, the DDA has said in light of new dispensing fee analysis.

Across Great Britain, GP negotiators have made efforts to secure funding to implement the EPS in dispensing practice. In England, these have been met with denials by health minister Stephen Kinnock that the dispensing fee needs review. The stock party line, adopted by Kinnock and other MPs, is that the dispensing fee – inherently unchanged since 2012 – covers IT costs.

However, according to DDA calculations, in real terms, over the past decade (to 2025/26) the dispensing GP fee envelope in England has plunged 17.5 per cent and the average fee even further - at £1.58 versus £2.06, representing a 23.4 per cent drop. In Scotland, the dispensing fee is unchanged since 2002.

By contrast, despite also receiving a dispensing fee, community pharmacies in England received up to £1,250 per site in EPS setup funding. These pharmacies have also benefited from successive waves of digital investment, including robotic dispensing, barcode systems, and 24-hour prescription collection machines. Dispensing GP practices, however, have been excluded from these innovation funds

In a new feature, the DDA sets out its argument that across Great Britain the need to address NHS funding for the EPS has never been more acute.

Read the feature: The DHSC is in denial over EPS funding

Read more about the challenges presented by NHS digitisation

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