New NHS prescription forms and EPS Tokens are being introduced in England from January 2020.

Changes have been made to the reverse of the new versions (1219) of all FP10 prescription types (FP10SS, FP10D, FP10PN, etc.), and Tokens (FP10DT), to make it easier for patients and pharmacy teams to determine whether the patient is eligible for exemption from the prescription charge, thereby avoiding the possibility of incurring a penalty charge.

A key change is the inclusion of a new exemption box ‘U‘ for “Universal Credit and meet the criteria“. This change will help to provide more clarity to patients and their representatives when completing the declaration on the reverse of the new FP10 forms and Tokens.

The new FP10 forms and Tokens have been put into circulation from January 2020 and pharmacy teams can expect to see these being presented by patients in the coming weeks. There will be a period of transition during which existing FP10 forms and Tokens will remain in circulation until their stocks are exhausted. Pharmacy teams are therefore reminded that they can accept both existing and new versions of forms and Tokens for dispensing. The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) will operate a dual system for the processing of both versions during the transition period.

Relevant changes are being made to the EPS prescribing and dispensing systems to coincide with the changes to the paper FP10 forms and Tokens, but these updates may not be implemented at the same time as the new Tokens begin to appear. Pharmacy teams can continue to select the pre-existing EPS message codes for exemption categories until the changes have been made to dispensing systems.

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PSNC has produced a list of FAQs to help explain the changes in more detail. These FAQs should be read in conjunction with the ‘Changes to the FP10 NHS Prescription Form‘ guidance produced by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and NHSBSA.

Community pharmacy contractors are also advised to review and update their SOPs to ensure accurate completion of patient declarations on the new versions of the FP10 forms and Tokens.

New FP10 form

The image below shows what the new reverse of the updated FP10 form (version 1219) looks like. Click the image to enlarge it.

Related resources

PSNC FAQ Briefing 002/20: Changes to FP10 NHS prescription form and EPS Tokens

Detailed guidance on the Changes to the FP10 NHS Prescription form

NHSBSA Communications toolkit – pharmacy teams may find this useful in helping to communicate the changes to patients.