What We Delivered in 2025
Published on 26 January 2026
NSS Practitioner Services
How we’re supporting better pharmacy care across Scotland
Take part in the Satisfaction Survey
Respond by 28 February 2026
Your feedback shapes our services. The survey takes 10 minutes, is confidential, and we’ll share what we do as a result.
What is NSS Practitioner Services?
NSS Practitioner Services supports community pharmacies, dispensing doctors and medical appliance suppliers across Scotland. We make sure the systems and processes behind the scenes are available, efficient, accurate, timely and easy to use, constantly reviewing them to ensure adherence with legislation. Our work includes managing pharmacy service and dispensing payments, supporting the submission and retrieval of prescriptions, and providing practical tools and guidance that help contractors run their services with confidence. By keeping these essentials running smoothly, we enable contractors to focus on what matters most: delivering reliable, high-quality care for their patients.
Need help with any part of your claim? Get in touch
We’d like to remind all contractors that if you’re unsure about any aspect of making a claim, please contact us before submitting. This helps prevent payment delays and reduces the need for retrospective adjustments.
You can find our contact details in the Contact Us section.
What we delivered in 2025
January to December
We continued to deliver key services and improvements that support contractors and strengthen service delivery. These highlights included:
All contractors were paid on time throughout 2025, with every payment made to the published schedule, including early payment in December.
Processed a projected 119.4m items in 2025, with January to November figures confirmed and December still being finalised.
75.8m paper prescriptions were scanned and processed for contractor reimbursement
Increased automation of submitted claims with two new high-volume scanners operationalised and a third due to go live soon, an investment of more than £400k
ePharmacy Helpdesk customer support, handled circa 10,500 calls.
Alongside these, we delivered wider changes to support the work of contractors. These include:
Monthly Rejected Items Report launch
As part of the new Data Capture Validation and Payment (nDCVP) system enhancement, a Rejected Items Report, including rejection reasons, was added to the eSchedule for prescriptions dispensed in September 2025 and paid in November 2025. This Rejected Items Report will now be included in the monthly suite of eSchedule reports.
Elastic Hosiery legislation amendment
The legislation amendment was successfully negotiated and implemented following discussions with Community Pharmacy Scotland (CPS), and the Scottish Government. Reimbursement adjustments are now underway for contractors with affected claims. You can find more details on the Rejected Items Report guidance webpage.
GP IT System related claim rejections
Claims have been rejected because a small number of GP practices using the Optum (EMIS) and Vision systems were not updated with the latest deployment patch or were unable to add the Selected List Scheme (SLS) correctly. Most affected claims relate to Cyanocobalamin. We are working closely with GP IT system suppliers and NHS Board IT teams to resolve this quickly and ensure a smooth resolution. We’ll carry out an analysis, and all affected contractors will be reimbursed once the remaining practices complete their updates. Visit our website for full details.
Dispensing doctor VAT rates
It was identified that Net Ingredient Cost (NIC) values were not available in nDCVP. NIC is the basic cost of the medicine itself, before adding any extra charges. This information is required to calculate dispensing doctor VAT. After investigations, a solution was implemented in 2025. NIC values are now available in nDCVP, and all dispensing doctors back payments have been completed.
Other nDCVP enhancements
Three nDCVP releases were tested and deployed to production during 2025. These included enhancements which led to the resolution of Hep C underpayments, Sildenafil SLS underpayments and the Stoma Rate fee being updated.
ISO 9001 quality standard and quality checks
We have retained our ISO 9001 certification, confirming that our processes, including those used to operate the nDCVP system, are fully documented and consistently applied. We have held this globally recognised standard for 30 years. Quality checks carried out during the accreditation process demonstrated strong performance, with 99.62% accuracy in assessed claims.
In addition, random sampling is used to check items from contractor submissions, ensuring each contractor has items reviewed annually. Items over £500 are also checked to give assurance that higher-value claims are handled with the right level of scrutiny.
Our approach
We listen to contractor feedback and act on what we hear. Insight from surveys, day-to-day contact, and collaborative work helps shape our priorities.
We aim to:
Keep communication simple, consistent and timely
We provide monthly updates on payments through the pharmacy eSchedule, along with guidance published on our website.
Support continuous improvement
We work closely with the Scottish Government, Community Pharmacy Scotland, PMR suppliers, and NHS Health Boards involving them through working groups to help shape future developments.
Share learning and good practice
Our Scanning Operations Team contacts contractors about significant issues with scanned paper prescriptions that prevent first-time scanning. Our team provides supporting guidance to resolve the problem and keep payments on track.
Provide telephone and email support
Contractors can contact us by phone or email for help submitting claims correctly – see below.
Together, this helps reduce barriers in day-to-day work and supports safe, consistent patient care.
Stay connected
You can find our contact details in the Contact Us section