Boots' parent company 'charged NHS £1500 for £2 pot of moisturiser'

The NHS is being drastically overcharged for custom-made drugs, with the owner of high street chain Boots accused of being one of the main offenders.

According to The Times, Boots billed the NHS £1,579 for a single 500ml tub of cream in 2016 – despite the mixture being prescribed for as little as £1.73 elsewhere in the country.

The specially made moisturiser was bought by the high street pharmacy from BCM Specials, which was owned by Boots’ parent company Walgreens Boots Alliance.

Known as ‘specials’ these drugs are custom-made for patients and their costs aren’t regulated, meaning suppliers can set their own prices.

This is one of thousands of cases in which the NHS seems to have been overcharged for specials. Other examples listed by The Times include £1,323 paid for a 400ml ointment bought for just £1.90 a month later and £650 for bespoke coconut oil worth £1.

Deirdre Buckley, chairwoman of the specials working group at the British Association of Dermatologists, said that manufacturers overcharging in this way was “not right”.

NHS England said: “If companies harm patients and taxpayers by unfairly and inappropriately hiking drug prices they should expect vigorous regulatory and legal enforcement action. All pharmacies should seek to secure best value in preparing specials for patients.”

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The Department of Health and Social Care confirmed that pharmacies and suppliers will be under greater scrutiny from April following a change in the law.

Currently, when suppliers order specials the manufacturer name isn’t recorded by the NHS, making it impossible to monitor which companies are inflating their costs. This information is to be recorded from April.

Walgreens Boots Alliance “categorically” denied overcharging, insisting that all regulations and legal requirements had been met.

A spokeswoman told The Times that the creation of specials “incurs high overheads, reflected in the final cost, which is set in line with the sector to reflect the bespoke nature of the products.”