Feature / Technical round-up

Annual plans – branded drugs – maternity – direct commissioning

• Monitor’s annual plan review submission timetable will be similar to last year, with submissions due by 3 June. In? its monthly bulletin, the regulator said the financial template would be issued on 1 April, with the strategic template available a month earlier. Monitor is reviewing its strategic and financial templates. It expects the format of the strategic template to be updated. The 2013/14 process will focus on sustainability and planning quality, the key issues from last year’s review.
• A 0.2% rise in the price of branded medicines from suppliers outside the Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme (PPRS) will cost primary care about £2m in 2013, the Department of Health said. Under the statutory scheme – designed to have a similar effect?to PPRS – companies that choose not to be part of PPRS have to cut their 1 December 2008 prices by 5.5%. The reduction will now be 5.3%. In its impact assessment, the Department said extra spending in hospitals was difficult to assess but was not likely to be significant.
• The Department of Health has published details of how and why the payment by results maternity pathway was developed. The information includes data templates, business rules and frequently asked questions. The Department said much of the data was published in February 2012, but drew attention to amendments made in antenatal and postnatal input proformas.
• Guidance that aims to support planning for direct commissioning in 2013/14 has been published by the NHS Commissioning Board (NCB). It said the document would help the NCB’s national, regional and area teams ensure consistency across England and develop an approach that improves quality and equity of access to services.
• NHS trusts and foundation trusts have been invited to bid for a share of a £50m capital fund to improve energy efficiency. The Department of Health funding, to spend in 2013/14, will support projects that aim to improve use of energy and cut carbon emissions. Initial expressions of interest must be submitted by 28 February.
• The Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety has issued the timetable for accounts for health and social care (HSC) bodies in Northern Ireland. A circular said the timetable allows HSC trust accounts for 2012/13 to be laid before the Assembly before its summer recess, while HSC agencies will do so after the recess.
• The Treasury has published the discount rates for valuing general provisions and post-employment benefits liabilities at March 2013. Two papers outlining the rates are available on Monitor’s website.