Minor ailment scheme NI claims and fees
Q. How do I claim for a ‘consultation only’ fee under the Minor Ailment Scheme and how much will I be paid?
A. When a consultation only is given, with no medicine supplied, the pharmacist must write “Consultation Fee” on the prescription voucher in place of the product name.
They must also endorse the voucher with the consultation fee code which is 79070 found in the MA formulary
. See Appendix 9 of the service specification for an example of a completed voucher.
Completed vouchers must be submitted to BSO at the end of the month that the consultation took place and must be bundled separately from normal HS21 forms.
The consultation fees are banded according to the number of consultations carried out by the pharmacy since launch of the service:
- 0-500 = £8.50
- 501-1000 = £7.50
- 1001-2000 = £6.50
- 2001-2950 = £5.00
- 2951 and above = £0.00
BSO keeps a running total of the number of consultations claimed for by each contractor. This running total is reported to contractors via their ‘Nicad’ report issued quarterly.
Payment is automatically made at £8.50 per consultation – BSO then recalculates based on the running total and will issue an ‘adjustment notice’ or letter which will show a minus figure – i.e. for every consultation over 500 BSO will deduct £1.00 as an adjustment to the payment already made.
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