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The Welsh Government has written to pharmacy contractors to announce a “stability payment” of £6m that will be distributed via a 30p increase per prescription items over three months.

The NHS Wales Shared  Services  Partnership (NWSSP) will distribute the higher practice payments for items dispensed in January, February and March, chief pharmaceutical officer Andrew Evans and governmental head of prescribing Natalie Proctor said in a letter sent on Wednesday April 2.

Negotiating body Community Pharmacy Wales (CPW) has agreed to five conditions on the increased investment.

These include making the sore throat test and treat and urinary tract infection services mandatory components of the Common Ailments Service (CAS) from June 3 and October 1 respectively, with all contractors required to register for these services by these dates.  

Contractors are also expected to make at least one ‘collaborative working visit’ to a GP practice in their cluster to raise awareness of the STTT and UTI services between April 1 and September 30. 

A winter pressures incentive will also be introduced during 2025-26 to incentivise pharmacies to meet a minimum threshold for CAS consultations from October 2025 to March 2026. 

Additionally, more conditions such as shingles and impetigo are to be added to the CAS once a piece of “explorative policy work” concludes, with CPW to work with commissioners to ensure that “whatever can feasibly be implemented” will focus on conditions that will release the maximum capacity in primary care over the winter months. 

Finally, CPW has agreed to carry out work to support a further expansion of pharmacist independent prescribing services “to ensure the public have access to advice and treatment for a more diverse range of clinical conditions prior to winter 2025-26”.