The first examples of the National Catalogue products and tariffs have been published on the CSED website.

The information that goes along with the first issue states:

This is the first issue and does not include products prescribed to aid those users with sight and hearing impairments, children's products, delivery & installation charges and the prescription handling fee. Further price validation is being carried out on these items and the initial tariff will be updated to include these items once that validation exercise is complete.

There is also more information on how the tariff has been produced….

This initial tariff has been calculated as follows:

1. The lower quartile of the weighted average of current local authority community equipment purchasing costs for each item was calculated.

2. From (1), a local authority / health partnership wholesale price was calculated.

3. The resultant figures have been benchmarked against prices agreed by accredited retailers in areas where the model has already been implemented.

4. Finally, the views of a number of independent retailers have been sought and reflected in the tariff as necessary.

As for the future, the DoH states….

In addition to the above steps, a separate commercial price benchmarking exercise is being undertaken on behalf of the Transforming Community Equipment Programme. The results of this exercise will be compared to the initial tariff and a final national tariff will be published during autumn 2008. Thereafter, the national product catalogue and tariff will be reviewed and updated regularly to incorporate additional items that are subsequently identified as necessary and to align with changing market conditions

To get a copy of the initial list, go to:

http://www.csed.csip.org.uk/workstreams/transforming-community-equipment-and-wheelchair-services-programme/catalogue-and-tariff.html