The NHS is to recover services fees for “a small number” of flu vaccinations provided by pharmacies before the official October 3 start date, Community Pharmacy England has revealed. 

According to papers from a CPE meeting held on February 5, NHS England has indicated that some pharmacies and GP surgeries administered vaccinations “outside of the announced and authorised cohorts prior to October 3”.

This applies to pharmacies that vaccinated patients other than pregnant women before the full-scale service launch in October, as well as practices that vaccinated patients outside of “exceptional clinical circumstances”. 

NHSE plans to recover the £9.58 item of service (IoS) fee for any vaccinations it deems to have fallen outside the service specification. 

It will give the NHS Business Services Authority a report listing the relevant providers, with the NHS BSA to investigate any suspected “overclaims” and seek the agreement of providers before recovering the IoS fee. 

CPE added: “Reimbursement for the supplied vaccines will still be made in the usual way this year; however, they may seek to withhold/recover this reimbursement in future years if the situation reoccurs.” 

The negotiator said NHSE is seeking to drive home to flu jab providers “that vaccines should only be administered to cohorts recommended by [the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation]” and to “ensure equitable treatment between providers”.

CPE subcommittee members reportedly said at the meeting last Wednesday that the later start date of October 3 may have led to a drop in provision and that there is apparently still “some confusion amongst patients around the clinical benefit of being vaccinated later in the season”. 

The meeting papers also reveal that despite NHSE indicating that it would publish the annual flu letter for 2025-26 before Christmas to give pharmacies time to place flu vaccine orders, as of February 5 there was still no update. 

NHSE conducted a four-week survey in late 2024 to seek views on switching to a central procurement model for flu vaccines, something that CPE has said would “have pros and cons for pharmacy owners”.