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Nearly 195,000 unpaid or referred-back items worth a total £1.55 million have not been processed by pharmacy owners on the Manage Your Service (MYS) portal, according to Community Pharmacy England (CPE).

Drawing on the latest data from the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA), CPE today said the 194,000 unpaid items equates to an average of £150 per pharmacy, with a third or 65,000 items left incomplete for over six months. Some 2,700 will expire in the next month.

CPE said its estimate was based on the current average national net ingredient cost of around £8 per item. It said 400 pharmacies have over 100 outstanding unpaid items and one pharmacy had 2,637 unpaid items awaiting completion.

Urging pharmacy owners to “action” their unpaid items on the portal, CPE said: “Delays in completing unpaid items can affect the timing of payments and create avoidable cashflow pressures for pharmacy owners.”

CPE also advised pharmacy teams “to regularly check the ‘unpaid items‘ tab on the portal" and ensure "any outstanding unpaid items are completed and returned promptly to the NHSBSA for payment”.

“It is important to note that unpaid items are only held on MYS for a period of 18 months from the date they are first returned to the pharmacy for action,” CPE added.

“If pharmacy owners have not completed and returned any outstanding unpaid items before this deadline has passed, the items will be deleted from the system.”