NHS Business Services Authority is to run post-payment spot checks on pharmacies claiming payments for medicines use reviews (MURs), NHS England has announced.

From October 2017, NHS BSA will select pharmacies at random to ask them to submit signed patient consent forms corresponding to MUR payments over a three-month period.

According to the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee, 10,239 pharmacies were providing MURs in May 2017. Payment was claimed for 303,757 MURs in June 2017, with a total value of 8,505,196. 

Checking the validity of payments for services carried out in pharmacies was previously carried out by local NHS England teams, but patchy implementation has led PSNC, NHS England and NHS BSA to agree a standardised approach. Checking will begin with MURs and in the future will be carried out on other advanced services.

PSNC said: “NHS England is responsible for monitoring the provision of essential and advanced services by contractors and they have a duty to assure themselves of the quality and probity of activity provided under the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework.”

According to PSNC, the new approach “aims to identify any issues related to the claiming of payment for advanced services and to facilitate resolution of those issues with the individual contractor. Where common issues are identified, advice will be provided to all contractors on how such issues could be avoided in the future.”