A revised Pharmacy Quality Scheme (PQS) for the first part of 2020-21 has been agreed between the PSNC, Government and NHS England.

The new PQS, which was announced today and replaces a previously agreed scheme that was due to begin in April, contains funding of £18.75m. Contractors who meet all requirements are able to claim £1,630 via the NHSBSA’s Manage Your Service (MYS) portal if they lodge their claims between July 14 and January 29 next year.

Contractors need to complete the 14 actions that are detailed in a checklist.

“Any residual funding not paid to contractors within the Part 1 scheme will be distributed as part of payments in the Part 2 2020/21 scheme,” the PSNC said.

“Payments will be made by the NHS Business Services Authority as soon as possible after a claim has been submitted, with, for example, any claims submitted by August 5 2020 being paid on September 1 2020.”

Alastair Buxton, director of NHS services at the PSNC, said: “During the pandemic, pharmacy contractors and their teams have been the local healthcare heroes within their communities, keeping the door to primary care fully open for their patients.

“To achieve this, they have had to make many significant changes to the way they have operated. This first PQS scheme for 2020/21 has been developed to recognise all that prior work by contractors and their teams and to encourage them to check that all appropriate actions have been taken to protect their staff, patients and the continuity of their service to the community, as we continue our journey through this pandemic.”