Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what action they intend to take to ensure that payments to pharmacists for issuing prescribed medicines and medical devices are increased in line with the rising wholesale cost of medicines caused by the war in the Middle East.

In 2025/26, funding for the core community pharmacy contractual framework was increased to £3.1 billion. This represented the largest uplift in funding of any part of the National Health Service at the time, at over 19% across 2024/25 and 2025/26.

The Department is currently consulting with Community Pharmacy England on any proposed changes to reimbursement and remuneration of pharmacy contractors for 2026/27.

When the market price of a medicine suddenly increases, pharmacy contractors can request an increase to the reimbursement price, known as a concessionary price, from the Department via Community Pharmacy England. ‘Real-time’ data from suppliers, both wholesalers and manufacturers, obtained under Regulation 27 of The Health Service Products (Provision and Disclosure of Information) Regulations 2018 is used to set the concessionary price. This ensures that prices set are reflective of current market prices and availability, with the aim of mitigating pharmacy contractors dispensing at a loss when market prices suddenly rise.

Pharmacy contractors are reimbursed for medical devices in line with the listed prices on Part IX of the NHS Drug Tariff. Suppliers should adhere to these prices as per the terms of their listing.