This update contains important information for community pharmacy teams.
CPNI Attendance at NI Assembly Health Committee 26th February 2026
CPNI representatives were joined by Ethigen Chairperson, Mr. Nigel Kelly, at yesterday’s Health Committee to outline the current challenges facing the community pharmacy network. The evidence session is available to view HERE.
No Smoking Month will take place in March 2026. Cancer Focus NI has worked with a range of service providers and stakeholders to develop the No Smoking Month webpage and a toolkit of digital resources to support the month-long campaign. Community pharmacies can get involved by downloading resources which can be shared in the pharmacy or on their social media channels. A video explaining the Stop Smoking service is available here. The Cancer Focus team has a limited supply of physical resources such as posters and pens, and interested pharmacy teams can request packs by emailing: want2stop@cancerfocusni.org before the end of March.
Research Survey – Medicines Returns
CPNI has been contacted by a 4th year student from the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at Ulster University who is currently undertaking a research project exploring pharmaceutical waste management in Northern Ireland. As part of this work, they have developed a questionnaire to investigate and evaluate the current pharmaceutical amnesty campaign within community pharmacies. Contractors and pharmacy team members are invited to participate in the survey, which should take approximately 10–15 minutes to complete. Further information is available here.
SPPG has issued correspondence dated 25 February 2026 setting out upcoming changes being introduced by the Department in respect of the classification and pricing of a subset of Category C medicines with multiple suppliers. These medicines will be listed in a new Northern Ireland Part 1 category, Category H, from March 2026.
SUMMARY
Under the ‘new arrangements’, the Department will set the reimbursement prices using information from suppliers obtained by DHSC under the Health Service Products (Provision and Disclosure of Information) Regulations 2018. In the letter SPPG state that the objective of this change is that reimbursement prices will better reflect market prices. All available pack sizes will be considered. Drug Tariff prices for Category H drugs, which will include an element of retained margin, will be updated quarterly in March, June, September and December.
Eligible products will move from Category C into Category H in a phased approach, with the first 11 products, detailed in the correspondence, being introduced in March 2026.
SPPG modelling indicates that the impact of these price changes on the reimbursement of these 11 products over 12 months in Northern Ireland would be an estimated additional reimbursement of £117.5k, based on the dispensing figures January to December 2025.
SPPG have stated that they will continue to monitor the impact of this change on the delivery of the medicines margin through the transitional period, which may require mitigation to be considered.
ACTION
Please ensure this correspondence is brought to the attention of relevant members within your pharmacy team.
NOTE
This change was part of the consultation on community pharmacy drug reimbursement reforms that took place in March 2022. At that time CPNI opposed the proposed change to the pricing of Category C medicines and you will be aware that CPE also announced their opposition to these changes when they were confirmed in England in December 2025.
At a recent meeting with SPPG, CPNI asked for Category H not to be introduced at this time given wider drug tariff uncertainty and the issues this is causing for the community pharmacy network.
It should also be noted that CPNI has not received assurances on whether there will be an overall positive or negative impact on contractor reimbursement as further products are transferred by the Department into Category H. SPPG have proceeded with the changes as outlined within the letter.
CPNI will continue to make representations on both Category H and Category M reimbursement arrangements and we ask that contractors continue to advise CPNI of instances where the drug reimbursement price for any product is below the purchase price.
CPNI will keep you updated accordingly.
Kind regards,
SENT ON BEHALF OF GERARD GREENE Chief Executive
Dear Contractor,
CPNI can confirm that the 4% DDRB (Review Body on Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration) uplift to both global sum and non-global sum elements of the community pharmacy financial envelope has been approved. 10/12th of the uplift will be paid with the February BSO payment, with a further 1/12th paid with March BSO payment and the final 1/12th paid with the April BSO payment.
The total amount being paid to contractors for 2025/26 is £4.72m. The uplifts have been applied on the basis of ordinary and instalment dispensing volumes and practice allowance.
CPNI welcomes the release of the DDRB uplift for 2025/26 and had been pressing for it to be released earlier.
Please do not hesitate to contact the CPNI office should you require any further information.
Kind regards,
SENT ON BEHALF OF GERARD GREENE Chief Executive
WhatsApp Business Terms of Service can be found here and privacy policy hereUCA-NI Privacy Policy We take your privacy seriously and do not share or sell any personal details with third parties for commercial purposes. If you have any questions, please contact the CPNI office. You can withdraw your consent to be contacted at any time by calling 028 9069 0444 or by emailing info@communitypharmacyni.co.uk. CPNI Data Protection Policy and Data Retention policy can be found Click Here
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
