Background

The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) handles over 1 billion prescription items annually and as part of their business strategy they’ve been planning on how they can improve prescription pricing efficiency against the backdrop of increasing electronic prescription volumes. In this series of articles, we’ll be covering the NHSBSA’s digitisation of the prescription submission form and referred backs and how it will impact your pharmacy. Every month we’ll be giving you the latest information on how the project is coming along and providing you with an insight into what it’s going to look like.

Since the beginning of 2017 the NHSBSA has been working on digitising the prescription submission form and  referred back items, a process which currently is very paper heavy.  As a contractor, you will know that bundling your prescriptions at the end of the month along with processing prescriptions forms for re-submission can take up a significant amount pharmacy staff time.  The NHSBSA has been aiming to reduce some of the workload pressures on pharmacies when it comes to sending through their ‘end of month’ claim, so in order to do so, they’ve been developing an online platform to replace the current FP34C submission form.

What are the NHSBSA aims?

• To provide a secure online alternative to the current paper based submission of the FP34C
• To reduce the number of disallowed items and unpaid items
• Save time for pharmacies and reduce operating costs at the NHSBSA

What has the NHSBSA produced to date?

The NHSBSA has developed an application called ‘Manage Your Submissions’, an online platform which has been designed using pharmacy user feedback.  The platform has so far been built and tested, and moved to a secure environment. It is now undergoing private beta testing with 31 community pharmacies across the sector.

What will ‘Manage Your Submissions’ look like?

Here are some screenshots of what the platform will look like. (N.B they are subject to change based on user feedback).

How will ‘Manage Your Submissions’ affect my pharmacy?

• Once deployed pharmacies will be able to complete their end of month prescription submission completely online i.e. through an online equivalent to the FP34C. Of course paper prescriptions will still need to be sent to the NHSBSA as normal.
• Dramatically reduce anomalies which might occur with the paper FP34C.
• Simplified management of your resubmissions and therefore earlier payment of these items where applicable.
• The view of historical submissions in one place.
• Enable easier post-payment verification of your prescription bundle when your bundle has been processed and you receive your Schedule of Payment.

What does the roadmap for ‘Manage Your Submissions’ look like?

PSNC’s role in ‘Manage Your Submissions’

PSNC has been, for a number of years, been pressing for changes to the FP34C submission document in order to improve transparency of payments for pharmacies, we therefore welcome this piece of work. The PSNC transparency group (a small subgroup of the PSNC committee) has been working closely with the NHSBSA Digitisation Group to make improvements to ‘Manage Your Submissions’, and regularly provides feedback to the NHSBSA.  We are also helping to shape some of the value-added features of the platform which will be useful to contractors as well as their staff.

How can my pharmacy get involved?

Keep an eye out for future PSNCs articles on the ‘Manage Your Submissions’ portal so that you can use this portal as soon as it becomes public. If you have any specific suggestions or comments feed them into info@psnc.org.uk. You can also visit www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/digitalsubmissions for further information from NHSBSA.