Community pharmacy stakeholders have expressed deep concern over the expansion of Category H, warning that reimbursement adjustments could further erode vital retained margins.
According to a poll conducted by Pharmacy Business on LinkedIn, 92% of respondents in a small sample expressed apprehension regarding the ongoing changes to Drug Tariff mechanisms.
When asked: “How concerned are you about the impact of Category H expansion on pharmacy funding and retained margin?”, the responses were:
- Extremely concerned: 54%
- Moderately concerned: 38%
- Neutral: 8%
- Not concerned: 0%
An additional eight multi-source products will move from Category C to Category H next month, joining the 11 products that have been in the category since March 2026.
Community Pharmacy England (CPE) has raised concerns about the addition of further medicines to Category H from September, a new part of the Drug Tariff introduced this year.
The findings reflect widespread sector anxiety over NHS dispensing reimbursement models and the ability of contractors to protect dispensing margin in the face of escalating operational and staffing overheads.
