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Key Points of the GMS Dispensing Contract:

Geographical considerations:

GMS Dispensing Contracts are often prevalent in areas where patients
may face challenges in accessing a community pharmacy. In years
gone by GPs operating under this contract provided a vital service,
ensuring that patients in remote locations receive timely access to
essential medications. In some cases this is still the case but very often
nowadays with urban sprawl and so much more housing development
in rural areas, there will be a pharmacy opened up close by.

Dispensing patient population:
Patients registered with a GP practice under a GMS Dispensing
Contract can conveniently obtain their prescribed medications directly
from the practice but only if they live further than a mile away from
a Pharmacy. This rule means we need to be careful about identifying
who is entitled to have their prescriptions dispensed by the practice. If
a pharmacy opens up close by then it likely means a proportion of our
dispensing patients will no longer be entitled to our services.

Regulatory requirements:

A GP practice dispensary runs without the need for a pharmacist which often is a
source of concern for new dispensers who are used to the support of a Responsible
Pharmacist, as in a Pharmacy. GPs under the GMS Dispensing Contract must
though adhere to specific regulatory guidelines governing the dispensing process
and these include many of the standards met by pharmacy such as maintaining
accurate records, ensuring proper labelling, and complying with prescription and
safety standards. All of these standards and articulated in your SOPs which is why
these are so important.
Most dispensing doctor practices enrol into a scheme called the Dispensary Services
Quality Scheme (DSQS) which sets out a framework of requirements designed to
ensure the dispensary provides a service of a quality equal to that of a pharmacy.

Dispensary income:

The dispensary is run as a separate business from the rest of the practice. It needs
to be financially viable as a standalone and is not funded via the GMS contract.

The only source of income into the dispensary is the prescriptions you dispense
which means that every prescription counts. There needs to be careful
consideration of what is both prescribed and supplied to make the most of any
buying deals and arrangements in place and also to counter the losses which are
incurred by the clawback* you incur on all prescription items.
(*clawback being the assumed discount that is deducted from you PPA payments
– puts you into loss if you haven’t dispensed an item purchased with the
equivalent discount given)
The dispensing fee paid is circa £2 per item (sliding scale dependant on number of
items dispensed per GP – revised each October and April)

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