The aim of the PhAS is to make sure that a baseline level of patient access to NHS community pharmaceutical services in England is protected. Qualifying pharmacies will receive an extra payment.
The PhAS has been designed to capture the pharmacies that are most important for patient access, those pharmacies where patient and public access would be affected should they close.
Eligibility
Pharmacies do not need to apply to the scheme to be eligible.
The eligibility criteria for the PhAS can be found in Part XIIA of the Drug Tariff.
You can view a list of eligible pharmacy contractors on the GOV.UK website.
The following pharmacies will be excluded from the scheme:
- distance selling pharmacies
- Local Pharmaceutical Services (LPS) pharmacies
- pharmacies in areas with dense provision of pharmacies
- pharmacies, which received less than 1,200 or more than 104,789 Single Activity Fees (SAFs) in 2019/20
Payment
Eligible PhAS pharmacy contractors do not need to make a claim for the PhAS. They'll receive a monthly payment with their reconciliation payment.
Payments can be found in Table 1 Part XIIA of the Drug Tariff.
Pharmacy contractors must meet the eligibility criteria in paragraph 6.1 and the requirement in paragraph 6.3.