DHSC has launched a consultation on plans to amend the Health Service Products (Provision and Disclosure of Information Regulations 2018. These regulations require persons who manufacture, distribute or supply any UK health service products to record, keep and provide information to the Secretary of State about the purchase, supply, price and availability of those products. They also require marketing authorisation holders and wholesalers to inform the Secretary of State about shortages and discontinuations. Amongst other things, the regulations are used to inform decisions about the reimbursement of the cost of medicines supplied on the NHS by pharmacies.
DHSC says that the aims of the proposed amendments are to:
- ensure that reimbursement arrangements are more reflective of market conditions and therefore fairer reimbursement for dispensing contractors
- improve DHSC’s ability to mitigate supply issues in the most cost-effective way by providing it with a more complete market view of health service products supply
- improve suppliers’ compliance to the regulations by enabling DHSC to update the compliance regime, ultimately supporting better patient access to medicines both of which represent taxpayer value for money