Rejected Items Report

Important update and guidance for the attention of pharmacy contractors, dispensing doctors and appliance suppliers

A Rejected Items Report, including rejection reasons, was added to your eSchedule for prescriptions dispensed in September 2025 and paid in November 2025. The Rejected Items Report is part of the monthly suite of eSchedule reports going forward. Community Pharmacy Scotland (CPS) were consulted on the rejected item reasons to ensure these were relatable for community pharmacy teams.

15 December 2025 Update

For details on why items such as Clinimed swabs and Robinsons Crepe bandages are rejected, see the Elastic Hosiery Products section below.

Legislative rejections

It’s important to be aware that the Data Capture Validation and Pricing (nDCVP) system processes claims strictly in line with current legislation, so any items that fall outside these parameters will be rejected. More information about the most common reasons for items being rejected is provided below.

Pharmacy First Scotland (PFS) Items (for pharmacy contractors only):

The system processes these items as listed in the Scottish Drug Tariff Part 17 Approved Products List under current legislation. This means the item supplied should be recorded within the prescribed and dispensed message exactly as written on the approved list. This includes selecting only appropriate pack sizes which are included in the approved list.

The Scottish Government approved a relaxation of the legislation. As a result, updates to the drug reference data file were made, and this resolved a significant number of rejections in line with the relaxation agreement.

Public Services Delivery Scotland (PSDS) made adjustments for PFS items one month in arrears under an agreement with the Scottish Government and CPS, as contractors were unable to see rejection reasons. PSDS based these adjustments on an average of £3.78 per item. The introduction of the Rejected Items Report in November 2025 meant contractors could see rejection reasons. To give contractors time to review the report and update their claiming practices, it was agreed with the Scottish Government to continue applying the average value adjustment for rejected PFS items up to and including the January 2026 dispensing month. PSDS then stopped the average value adjustments and recorded the final adjustments in the April 2026 eSchedule.

Please do not submit individual claims for any rejected PFS items for the period September 2025 (paid November 2025) to January 2026 (paid March 2026). PSDS has already paid estimated adjustments for this period, so submitting individual claims would create duplicate payments that we would need to recover retrospectively.

A small number (less than 150 claims across Scotland) of Pharmacy First items remain rejected despite being eligible for payment. A system change is being implemented; however, until this is applied, an adjustment for these items (from February 2026 dispensing onwards) will be applied on a line-by-line basis using the actual item payable price. These transactions will appear in your May 2026 eSchedule, and monthly thereafter. Please note this issue is distinct from the majority of Pharmacy First rejections, which are valid against the current Scottish Drug Tariff Part 17 formulary.

In parallel, there has been an agreement reached between Scottish Government, CPS and PSDS to reduce Pharmacy First rejections for dressings caused by pack size restrictions. The system will recognise equivalent pack sizes for the same product so contractors receive payment where the supply is appropriate. This change improves payment accuracy and reduces avoidable rejections. It does not change clinical eligibility. Further information will be shared once this change has been confirmed and the timelines are known.

Elastic Hosiery Products (for all dispensing contractors):

These products are currently held in the Scottish Drug Tariff Part 4. Following agreed Scottish Government legislation, these products must be prescribed and dispensed as outlined in the document linked above. PSDS received agreement from Scottish Government that will allow prescriptions for Elastic Hosiery Products only (from October 2025 dispensing month), written as a specific product rather than by generic title, to be accepted for payment and be reimbursed at the rates specified in Part 4 of the Scottish Drug Tariff.

PSDS processed adjustments to reimburse these items until the above change came into effect for the October 2025 dispensing month (December 2025 eSchedule). Please note this legislative amendment does not include other generic appliances including Clinimed swabs and Robinsons Crepe bandages which are not currently available in the Scottish Drug Tariff.

GP IT system rejections (for pharmacy contractors and dispensing doctor practices)

Other claims are being rejected due to GP IT systems either not being successfully updated with the latest deployment patch or unable to allow the correct addition of Selected List Scheme.

Cyanocobalamin Products:

These are listed under the Selected List Scheme (SLS). As you may be aware, prescriptions for SLS items must be endorsed by the prescriber on both electronic and paper prescriptions. If the endorsement is missing, the claim will be rejected in accordance with legislation.

CPS and PSDS are aware that some electronic SLS endorsements are not being applied correctly by a small number of GP practices using the Optum (EMIS) system. We are actively working with this system supplier and NHS Board IT teams to ensure the necessary software updates are rolled out as quickly as possible.

Please continue to submit your claims as usual, but please note that the system will continue to reject these if not correctly endorsed by the prescriber. PSDS plan to make retrospective adjustments to reimburse the affected contractors for rejected SLS items with no prescriber endorsement. PSDS has analysed all products within the Cyanocobalamin family, as these represent the vast majority of SLS rejections from March 2025 (from when the Cyanocobalamin issue began). This analysis will continue until PSDS receive confirmation that the small number of GP practices have been successfully upgraded. In the meantime, the analysis outcomes are going through quality assurance and adjustments will be made in due course.

Further analysis and adjustments will also be required for Community Pharmacy Urgent Supply (CPUS) items. These appear to be similarly impacted by missing endorsements. Initial review suggests this may be linked to differences in SLS definitions and rules across the UK nations, and how these are reflected in GP/PMR drug dictionaries and claiming messages. This has led to inconsistent application of endorsement requirements. PSDS is in the process of undertaking further analysis to quantify the impact.

During this process, you don’t need to contact us directly. We’ll keep you updated through this webpage as things progress. However, if you do have a query about a rejected item that is not covered in this briefing and feel it requires follow-up, you can contact us via email at nss.sdpaymentenquirysolutions@nhs.scot.