Pharmacy Contraception Service

The NHS Long Term Plan (LTP) Chapter 2 highlighted the importance of NHS services complementing the action taken by local government to support the commissioning of sexual health services. A Public Health England resource for commissioners (2019) also highlighted the role community pharmacy can play in supporting ongoing contraception.

In line with the agreement of the CPCF in 2019 to “test a range of prevention services’, a tiered pharmacy contraception service was designed. The initial tiered approach proposed was as follows:

• Tier 1 – Ongoing monitoring and supply of repeat oral contraception (OC);
• Tier 2 – Initiation of OC via a Patient Group Direction (PGD);
• Tier 3 – Ongoing monitoring and management of repeat long-acting reversible contraception (LARC), excluding intrauterine systems (IUS) and intrauterine devices (IUD); and
• Tier 4 – Initiation of LARCs.

In 2021, NHS England commenced a pilot involving pharmacies offering repeat supplies of oral contraception to people who had previously had the product prescribed.

In the Year 4 and Year 5 CPCF negotiations, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and NHS England proposed the commissioning of a Pharmacy Contraception Service, as an Advanced service, building on the learning from the pilot service.

In April 2023, the Tier 1 service launched. This initially involved community pharmacists providing ongoing management of routine oral contraception that was initiated in general practice or a sexual health clinic.

The supplies are authorised via a PGD, with appropriate checks, such as the measurement of the person’s blood pressure and body mass index (BMI), being undertaken, where necessary.

In May 2023, NHS England announced The Delivery Plan for recovering access in primary care. This highlighted the ambition to expand the PCS to increase access to and convenience of contraception services in line with the Government’s Women’s Health Strategy for England which had been announced in August 2022. The strategy flagged community pharmacy had a part to play in increasing choice in the ways people can access contraception.

Following negotiations between Community Pharmacy England, the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England, an expansion of the OC service was agreed and announced in November 2023. The expanded service, which removes reference to the original tiered service proposal, enables community pharmacists to also initiate oral contraception, via a PGD, and provide ongoing clinical checks and annual reviews.

The service provides another opportunity for pharmacy owners to help address health inequalities by providing wider healthcare access in their communities and signposting service users into local sexual health services in line with NICE guideline NG 102.

The objectives of the service are to:

• Provide a model for community pharmacy teams to initiate provision of OC, and to continue the provision of OC supplies initiated in primary care (including general practice and pharmacies) or sexual health clinics and equivalent. Both initiation and ongoing supply will be undertaken using PGDs to support the review and supply process; and 
• Establish an integrated pathway between existing services and community pharmacies that provides people with greater choice and access when considering continuing their current form of OC. 

The service aims to provide:

• People greater choice from where people can access contraception services; and
• Extra capacity in primary care and sexual health clinics (or equivalent) to support meeting the demand for more complex assessments.

The service requirements are included in the service specification and Patient Group Directions (PGDs), which pharmacy owners must read before deciding whether to provide the service.

From 1st December 2023, the service incorporates initiation and repeat supplies of contraception. Any pharmacy registering to provide the service must now provide the full service, i.e. both initiation and repeat supplies.

Download the service specification and Patient Group Directions (these apply from 1st December 2023)

Service Directions & Drug tariff determination

Download the service pathway for initiation

Download the service pathway for ongoing supply

Briefing 031/23: Guidance on the Pharmacy Contraception Advanced Service
This Community Pharmacy England Briefing provides additional guidance for pharmacy owners and their teams on the service. 

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The service involves community pharmacists providing:

• Initiation: where a person wishes to start OC for the first time or needs to restart OC following a pill free break. A person who is being switched to an alternative pill following consultation can also be considered as an initiation; and
• Ongoing supply: where a person has been supplied with OC by a primary care provider or a sexual health clinic (or equivalent) and a subsequent equivalent supply is needed. Their current supply of OC should still be in use.

The supplies will be authorised via a PGD, with appropriate checks, such as the measurement of the patient’s blood pressure and body mass index, being undertaken, where necessary.

Pharmacy owner checklist 

Once a pharmacy owner has decided they wish to provide the service, Community Pharmacy England’s implementation checklist will guide them through the steps they need to take to prepare to provide the service. 

Download the Pharmacy Contraception Service implementation checklist 

Pharmacist Checklist

Pharmacist implementation checklist: Pharmacy Contraception Service
This checklist provides suggested actions that pharmacists need to undertake to prepare to provide the service.

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Consultation room

Pharmacies must have a consultation room in order to be able to offer this service, which meets the requirements in the Terms of Service.

The consultation room must also have IT equipment accessible within the room to allow contemporaneous records of the consultations provided as part of this service. 

If a pharmacy owner has had agreement from NHS England that their pharmacy is too small for a consultation room, then they are not able to provide the service solely on a remote basis. 

If the pharmacist and individual agree that the service can be carried out remotely, this should be carried out via telephone, or another live audio link or a live video link in circumstances where the conversation cannot be overheard, except by someone whom the individual wants to hear the conversation. That may, for example, mean the pharmacist uses the consultation room to undertake the remote consultation. NHS Guidance to support community pharmacy teams can help to plan for this. Further information on remote consultations can be found on our website. 

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Equipment to be used in the service

In some cases, a blood pressure reading and a BMI, will need to be recorded, according to the PGD protocol. Pharmacy owners will, therefore, need to ensure that they have the necessary equipment required to undertake blood pressure readings, measure an individual’s weight and height. 

Pharmacy owners must ensure all equipment used to carry out these measurements for individuals within the pharmacy are accurate and fit for purpose in line with the GPhC standards. 

Equipment that is to be used to undertake clinic blood pressure checks in the service must be validated by the British and Irish Hypertension Society (BIHS), so pharmacy owners must use a ‘normal’ BP meter which is included on one of the two following BIHS lists: 

Validated BP Monitors for Home Use 

Validated BP Monitors for Specialist Use 

For further considerations regarding selection of blood pressure monitoring devices, please consult the ‘BP meters to be used in the service’ section of our Hypertension Case-Finding Service hub page. 

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Equipment maintenance, calibration & cleaning 

To meet the service specification requirements, validation, maintenance and recalibration of clinic blood pressure monitors should be carried out periodically according to manufacturers’ instructions.  

Infection control measures and cleaning must be carried out in line with the instructions of the manufacturer or supplier and in line with current infection control guidance. Detergent and disinfectant wipes can damage plastic surfaces of medical devices if they are not compatible with the surface material. In line with MHRA’s guidance, pharmacy owners are advised to only use cleaning products that are compatible with the device.  

The standard operating procedure (SOP) for the service must include the processes for cleaning, maintenance, validation and recalibration of the equipment used. Pharmacy owners can access additional guidance from the MHRA’s Managing Medical Devices guide. 

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IT requirements 

Pharmacy owners must use an NHS-assured clinical IT system to make their clinical records and payment claims for the service and, where the person has consented, to send messages containing the individual’s consultation outcomes to their general practice. 

Details of the IT solutions available to support the service can be found on our Pharmacy services IT requirements webpage. 

Pharmacy owners providing the service, will need to consider which system they want to use and will then need to enter into a contract with that supplier.

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Standard Operating Procedure 

Pharmacy owners must have an SOP for the service, which all staff participating in provision of the service must be familiar with and follow. The SOP must include the process for maintenance and validation of the equipment used. 

Various pharmacy support organisations provide template SOPs which their members can personalise for use in their pharmacy. We have also produced a local referral and contact details template for the  service. The template can a be used to record details on local GP practices and sexual health clinics referring into the Pharmacy Contraception Service, as well as details on other local pharmacies providing the service and the local safeguarding lead’s contact details.

Local referral and contact details for the service (Word)

Local referral and contact details for the service

While pharmacy owners should already have local safeguarding contacts, it is worth noting that the NHS England safeguarding app has a directory of safeguarding contacts for every local authority in England, searchable by region. It can be accessed via Apple iOS, Google Play – download it by visiting your device’s app store and searching for ‘NHS Safeguarding’.

Pharmacy owners must also ensure the service is included in their business continuity plan.

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Competency and training requirements

Pharmacy owners must ensure that pharmacy staff providing any aspect of the service are competent to do so in line with the specific skills and knowledge in the service specification and the relevant PGDs. This may involve completion of training.

Pharmacy owners need to keep documentary evidence that all pharmacy staff involved in any aspect of provision of the service are competent with regards to the specific skills and knowledge outlined in the service specification and the relevant PGDs. 

Pharmacists providing the service will be personally responsible for remaining up to date with the skills and competencies identified in the service specification and associated PGDs.

To provide the service, the pharmacist should have evidence of competence in the clinical skills and knowledge covered in the below listed training modules on the Centre for Pharmacy Postgraduate Education (CPPE) and/or the Health Education England e-learning for healthcare (elfh).

CPPE also has a list of the modules and other useful tools and resources on the NHS PCS page of their website.

Note – packages that are highly recommended are indicated by an asterisk *  

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Mandatory training 

Pharmacists providing the service must have completed one of the recommended Safeguarding level 3 training materials OR have direct access to professional advice from someone who can advise on Safeguarding at Level 3.  

• Safeguarding Level 3 - Safeguarding Children and Adults Level 3 for Community Pharmacists – video on elfh;  

OR   

• Safeguarding Level 3 elfh Safeguarding Children and Young People (SGC) – Safeguarding Children Level 3.   

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Recommended training modules 

• * CPPE Emergency contraception e-learning including emergency contraception e-assessment;   
• * CPPE Contraception e-learning including contraception e-assessment;   

OR the following four subsections of:   

• *Module 3 – Contraceptive Choices of the FSRH Sexual and Reproductive Health e-learning (e-SRH) on elfh:  

• • 03_01: Mechanism of action, effectiveness and UKMEC; 
  • 03_02: Choosing contraceptive methods; 
  • 03_03: Combined hormonal contraception; and  
  • 03_04: Progestogen only methods (oral and injectable).  

• * CPPE Sexual health in pharmacies e- learning and e-assessment;   

OR the following four subsections of   

• *Module 9 – STIs of the FSRH e-SRH on elfh:  

• • 09_01: Epidemiology and transmission of STIs;  
  • 09_02: Sexually transmitted infection (STI) testing;  
  • 09_03: STI management; and  
  • 09_04: Partner notification.  

AND one subsection in the   

• *External Resources module of the Sexual Health (PWP) e-learning on elfh:  

• FSRH – Contraception counselling eLearning.   

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 Initiation  of contraception

• The following subsections of Module 2 – Consent and history taking of FSRH e-SRH on elfh:  

• • 02_01 Health history and risk assessment; and   
  • 02_02 Confidentiality, chaperones, and consent.  

• The following subsection of Module 3 – Contraceptive choices of the FSRH e-SRH on elfh:  

• • * 03_07 Barrier contraceptives  

• The following subsections of Module 5 – Contraception: managing side-effects and complications of the FSRH e-SRH on elfh:  

• • 05_01 Managing bleeding problems in women using contraceptives;  
  • 05_02 Managing contraceptive side-effects; and 
  • 05_03 Managing side-effects and complications of IUD and IUS.  

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Other training to support clinical practice  

• CPPE Documenting in patient clinical records e-learning;  
• CPPE Remote consultation skills e-learning;  
• Patient group directions e-learning on elfh; and  
• CPPE consultation skills for pharmacy practice: taking a person-centred approach and e-assessment. 

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Pharmacy team training 

The whole pharmacy team can proactively promote this service. Teams should be briefed on the service and coached on how to best approach people about the service.  A pharmacy team briefing and a guide on how to recruit people is available to assist pharmacy owners to engage and coach their team members. 

Pharmacy staff who are going to provide blood pressure measurements and BMI calculations must have the necessary training required to undertake blood pressure readings and measure an individual’s weight and height. These staff need must: 

• Be familiar with the appropriate sections of NICE guideline Hypertension in adults: diagnosis and management [NG136]; 
• Have read and understood the operational processes to provide blood pressure and BMI measurements; and 
• Have completed the recommended training on how to use the blood pressure monitoring equipment which should be provided by the equipment manufacturer/supplier. 

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Sign up to provide service 

Pharmacy owners must notify NHS England that they intend to provide the service by completion of an electronic registration through the NHSBSA’s MYS portal. 

The pharmacy’s NHS website profile must be updated to indicate that the service is provided. Guidance on how to edit NHS website pharmacy profiles is available on the NHS website page of the Community Pharmacy England website. 

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NHS Profile Manager

Update your pharmacy’s service details on the NHS website using NHS Profile Manager. This will allow your pharmacy to be identified by the public and by other healthcare professionals as providers of the service.

Details on how to do this are available on the NHS Profile Manager page of our website.

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Engagement with local GP practices, local sexual health clinics and/or PCN colleagues 

There is no specific requirement within the service specification for pharmacy owners to engage with local general practices, local sexual health clinics and/or PCN colleagues prior to provision of the service. 

However, as the service can receive signposted referrals from local general practices and sexual health clinics (or equivalent), to maximise service opportunities, it is good practice to make them aware the pharmacy is participating in this service. A letter / email template to support pharmacy owners to notify GP practices and local sexual health clinics (or equivalent) that the pharmacy will be providing the service is available. 

Pharmacy owners should identify the hours and/or days they will provide this service and confirm the availability of the service as part of local conversations with stakeholders if they intend to receive referrals.  

Download the general practice and sexual health clinic letter / email service notification template (Microsoft Word) 

Where practices and sexual health clinics (or equivalent) wish to use this facility, pharmacy owners should agree any local process by which referrals can be received. On receipt of a referral, a member of the pharmacy team will agree with a referred person, the date and time of their consultation. 

A briefing to provide information for general practice teams and local sexual health clinics (or equivalent) on the service is available to assist pharmacy owners to engage their local colleagues. 

Download the Briefing for general practice and sexual health clinics (or equivalent) teams

A digital poster to assist general practices to highlight the availability of the service from participating community pharmacies is available.

Download the service digital general practice poster

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Withdrawal from providing the Service

If the pharmacy owner wishes to stop providing the service, they must notify NHS England that they are no longer going to provide the service via the MYS platform, giving at least one months’ notice prior to the cessation of the service. Pharmacy owners may be asked for their reason for withdrawal from the service.

If a pharmacy owner de-registers from the service or ceases trading within 30 days of registration, they will not qualify for the £400 set up fee. In this event, if the £400 fee has already been paid to the pharmacy owner, this money will be claimed back, subject to agreement with the pharmacy owner.

Individuals can access the service by any of the following routes:

• Identified as clinically suitable by the pharmacist and accepts the offer of the service; 
• Self-refer to a community pharmacy; 
• Referred by their general practice; 
• Referred from a sexual health clinic (or equivalent); or 
• Referred from other NHS service providers, e.g. urgent treatment centres or NHS 111. 

Note: for the purposes of this service, a referral includes active signposting to attend the pharmacy to receive the service. 

The pharmacy must respond to anybody requesting the service as soon as is reasonably possible. Following discussion, if the pharmacy is unable to offer a consultation within the time needed to meet the person’s contraception need, they should be signposted to an alternative pharmacy or other service for a consultation.

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Eligibility 

The service specification lists the following inclusion and exclusion criteria for the service: 

Inclusion criteria 

To be eligible to access this service a person must: 

• An individual seeking to be initiated on an OC, or seeking to obtain a further supply of their ongoing OC: 

• Combined oral contraceptive (COC) – age from menarche up to and including 49 years of age; 
• Progestogen only pill (POP) – age from menarche up to and including 54 years. 

Exclusion criteria 

A person will not be eligible for this service if: 

• The individual is considered clinically unsuitable, or is excluded for supply of OC according to the PGD protocols, including, but not limited to: 

• Individuals under 16 years of age and assessed as not competent using Fraser Guidelines; and 
• Individuals 16 years of age and over and assessed as lacking capacity to consent. 

Additional inclusion and exclusion criteria are listed in the PGDs and as such, pharmacy owners should refer to both the service specification and the PGDs to confirm the full inclusion and exclusion criteria for the service. Where people are not eligible for the service, pharmacy team members can signpost them to other appropriate local services. 

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General practice and sexual health clinic (or equivalent) referrals 

If practices or sexual health clinics (or equivalent) want to refer individuals to the service, then pharmacy owners should work with their practices and local sexual health clinic (or equivalent) to agree a local process by which this will work; there are no specific requirements set for this process.  

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Promoting the service

Pharmacy owners who will be providing the service can use resources such as a posters, social media tools, flyers, a service leaflet and, where facilities exist, digital marketing resources to advertise the availability of the service in the pharmacy. 

Posters

Download the service poster 

Download the service poster – A3 size

Download the service poster (Bengali)

Download the service poster (Polish)

Download the service poster (Punjabi)

Download the service poster (Urdu)

Download the service digital general practice poster

 

Digital posters

Download the service digital poster 

Download the NHSE Pharmacy Contraception Service A3 digital poster for university sites

Download the service digital poster (Bengali)

Download the service digital poster (Polish)

Download the service digital poster (Punjabi)

Download the service digital poster (Urdu)

 

Social media tools

Download oral contraception social media messages and text messages

Download social media tile 1

Download social media tile 2

 

NHSE Pharmacy Contraception Service business card leaflet (Format 1)

NHSE Pharmacy Contraception Service business card leaflet (Format 2)

NHSE Pharmacy Contraception Service business card leaflet (Format 3)

 

Download small flyers to use on prescription bags, etc. (Microsoft Word) 

Download a template leaflet to promote the service (Microsoft Word) 

When a person attends the pharmacy to collect an NHS repeat prescription for OC or makes contact for other services, e.g. to access a supply of emergency oral contraception, the service can be highlighted to them to consider their ongoing contraception requirements. 

A pharmacy team introductory briefing sheet and a guide on how to successfully recruit people using some of the insights from pilot sites is available as part of the briefing for pharmacy teams on the service. 

Download the Briefing for pharmacy teams on the service 

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Signposting patients 

A service finder, on the NHS website, lets members of the public and healthcare professionals search for a pharmacy that offers the contraceptive pill without a prescription as part of the PCS.

The pharmacy contraception service finder

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Consent 

Prior to provision of the service, verbal consent must be sought from the individual by the pharmacist and recorded in the clinical record for the service. 

Pharmacy owners also need to ensure that the individual is made aware that the following sharing of information will take place: 

• The sharing of information between the pharmacy and the individual’s general practice (where the individual agrees to this) to allow the recording of the appropriate information in their GP practice record; 
• The sharing of information about the service with NHS England as part of service monitoring and evaluation; and 
• The sharing of information about the service with the NHSBSA and NHS England for the purpose of contract management and as part of post-payment verification (PPV). 

However, if the person does not consent to sharing information with their general practice or they are not registered with a general practice, the consultation can still proceed, and a notification to the practice will not need to be sent. 

The General Pharmaceutical Council’s Guidance on Consent provides information on consent for pharmacists and their teams. 

A list of the information that must be sent to the individual’s general practice is available in Annex B of the service specification. 

A list of the dataset that is extracted from the pharmacy clinical records and submitted to the NHSBSA is available in Annex B of the service specification. 

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Safeguarding 

Either party may request / offer a chaperone to be present during the consultation. More information regarding use of a chaperone can be found in the Clinical Governance section of our website. 

During the consultation, if the pharmacist is concerned about a potential safeguarding issue, then appropriate action should be taken, where necessary, in line with local safeguarding processes. 

If the individual is less than 16 years of age, an assessment based on Fraser guidelines must be made and documented.  

If the individual is less than 13 years of age, the pharmacist should speak to the local safeguarding lead and follow the local safeguarding policy. 

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Blood pressure and BMI checks 

Before supply of an OC can be made, in some cases, a blood pressure reading and a BMI, will need to be recorded, according to the PGD protocol.  

Blood pressure, a BMI reading, or an individual’s height and weight can be provided by the person accessing the service and may be accepted where the pharmacist feels this is clinically appropriate. Any self-reported measurements will need to be recorded as such. 

Where BMI and blood pressure measurements are performed within the pharmacy, these can be conducted by the pharmacist as part of the consultation or by suitably trained and competent pharmacy staff in advance of the pharmacist consultation. 

The provision of a blood pressure check (clinic check) should be carried out in line with NICE guidelines. 

A visual guide that can be used to support suitably trained and competent pharmacy staff providing this is included as a standalone reference source. 

Download the clinic blood pressure guide 

To support the calculation of body mass index, the NHS website provides an online BMI calculator which can be accessed via the following link: BMI calculator (www.nhs.uk)  

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Pre-consultation

A template pre-consultation questionnaire has been developed to allow people who will attend the pharmacy, or who are in the pharmacy for the service, to provide information which can then be used by the pharmacist during the consultation. The pre-consultation questionnaire may assist pharmacy owners in reducing the pharmacist/service user contact time, if their chosen IT system does not offer any pre-consultation solutions.

Download the pre-consultation questionnaire template (Microsoft Word)

Download the pre-consultation questionnaire template

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Consultation 

The clinical appropriateness of a supply of OC will be determined by the pharmacist, as part of a consultation with the individual, following the guidelines in the PGD. The following should take place during the consultation and reference to the PGD should be made: 

• An explanation of consent and recording of the response to whether the person consents to the consultation; 
• A discussion regarding alternative and more effective forms of contraception including Long-Acting Reversible Contraception (LARC); 

• Blood pressure measurement and BMI calculation and/or recording with an explanation of the results if a supply of COC is being considered or requested (where this is not done by suitably trained and competent pharmacy staff before the consultation); 
• NHS-assured clinical record systems should offer consultation prompts and will facilitate the recording of information that is required to be collected as part of the service. Annex B of the service specification sets out the fields which need to be collected in a pharmacy’s clinical record for the service. 

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Additional advice & signposting 

To assist individuals in obtaining further information, the pharmacist can signpost individuals to other information sources, such as NHS.UK, to obtain additional information and advice to improve their understanding about contraception and sexual health. 

Below are links to some examples of information and resources which may be appropriate to signpost individuals to as part of this service. Pharmacists are advised to make themselves familiar with the content on these sites which can also be used as shared decision-making contraception consultation tools: 

Organisation	Resources
NHS UK	Your contraception guide  Aims to give practical information to everyone who wants to know more about contraception, or who may have a question about the method they use or are thinking about using.
Contraception Choices website -University College London  A range of posters and online content developed by a team of doctors, nurses and researchers from University College London in collaboration with women aged 15 to 30.	Contraception Choices  Aims to help women and couples decide which method of contraception might suit them best. The site provides honest information on the advantages and disadvantages of each method, and tackles concerns directly.
Brook  Brook is a charity supporting people with their sexual health and wellbeing. They offer a range of services to support their mission of helping people to live healthier lives.	Advice on:  Contraception;  Pregnancy;  STIs;   Relationships;  Gender;  Health & wellbeing;  Abuse & violence; and  More.

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Outcomes  

Criteria met 

If the assessment criteria are met, supply of an OC can be made. 

The FSRH UK Medical Eligibility Criteria for Contraceptive Use (UKMEC) calculator may support pharmacists in making a clinical decision on the most appropriate choice of contraceptive. The UKMEC helps clinicians decide what contraceptives they can safely recommend based on the medical conditions of patients in their care.  

On initiation, the quantity of OC supplied should not exceed 3 months. 

Where a person is initiated on an OC, pharmacists should use their professional discretion as to the appropriate choice of product, from those included in the PGD. Local formularies/restrictions should be referred to and followed accordingly. Pharmacists should refer to their local integrated care board (ICB) formulary for further information.

Following initiation, ongoing supplies of up to 12 months duration can be made, and unless there are reasons not to, such a duration of supply should be considered in line with the FSRH guidance. Restricting the length of supply could result in unwanted discontinuation of the method and an increased risk of pregnancy for the person. 

Ongoing supplies should be made in line with the person’s previous supply, e.g. in the instance that a branded product has been supplied for clinical reasons such as an allergy to product constituents, the repeat supply should be made from an equivalent brand/generic equivalent of OC, that follows any medicines formulary requirements of the local ICB.

Supplies should be in appropriately labelled original packs.

Clinical record systems should prompt the recording of all the required information listed in the PGD.

Where necessary, supplementary written information, links to online resources, or signposting to other support services should be given. Records should also be made of any advice and signposting provided.

Criteria not met 

If a supply of OC is not deemed clinically appropriate, the pharmacist should explain why this is the case to the person and refer them to their general practice or sexual health clinic (or equivalent).

Clinical record systems should prompt the recording of:

• A record of the reason for not supplying against a PGD; and 
• A record of the referral to an alternate service provider. 

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Information for service users (including healthy lifestyles) 

Service user’s measurements 

Where a blood pressure reading and/or a BMI are needed, according to the PGD protocol, and these are undertaken in the pharmacy, the outcomes of these should be discussed with the person. The person’s results should be provided in a format that best suits them. The person may prefer to have their readings written on a printed leaflet, it may be completed electronically by the pharmacist and emailed to the person or the person may prefer to take a photo of their readings using their phone.

Download a leaflet to support provision of readings (Microsoft Word) 

Download a leaflet to support provision of readings  

Healthy lifestyle advice 

In line with the principle of Making Every Contact Count, the pharmacist should encourage the individual to discuss their lifestyle/behaviours and appropriate lifestyle advice should be provided where applicable. Local initiative and services that may assist the person should be signposted to. 

Examples of resources which may be appropriate to support the individual or raise awareness are detailed in the Patient advice – Providing the service section of the Hypertension Case-Finding Service hub page. 

Pharmacy owners should record any advice provided and any signposting in the clinical record. Where a person is not registered with a GP practice, information should be provided to assist the person to do this. 

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Communicating with GP practices 

If the person provides consent to share the outcome of the consultation with their general practice, a notification should be sent via NHSmail or other secure digital mechanism. This message must clearly prompt general practice staff to add details of the consultation to the person’s clinical record upon receipt.  

The information to be sent to the general practice can be found in Annex B of the service specification. 

If the person does not consent to sharing information with their general practice or they are not registered with a general practice, the consultation can still proceed, and a notification to the practice will not need to be sent. 

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Record keeping and data management 

Pharmacy owners should maintain appropriate clinical records to ensure effective ongoing service provision and audit. 

Clinical records of service provisions should be retained for an appropriate period. Records of the reimbursement data reported to the NHSBSA’s MYS portal should be retained for three years for PPV purposes (See Annex B of the service specification). 

As pharmacy owners are the data controller, it is for each pharmacy owner to determine what the appropriate length of time is, beyond three years that the clinical records are kept for. Decisions on this matter should be documented in the SOP and should be in line with Records Management Code of Practice for Health and Social Care. 

The data which is submitted to the MYS portal via the application programming interface (API) will be used by the NHSBSA for payment and PPV purposes. Some of this data, which has been anonymised, will be shared with NHS England for service evaluation and research purposes. Details of the data to be reported from clinical systems to MYS are listed in Annex B. 

The pharmacy is required to report any patient safety incidents related to the service in line with the approved particulars for patient safety for pharmacies. 

Funding 

The following fees have been agreed for the service: 

• A set-up fee of £900 per pharmacy premises paid in instalments as follows: 

• £400 paid on signing up to deliver the service via the NHSBSA’s MYS portal; 
• £250 paid after claiming the first 5 consultations;  
• £250 paid after claiming a further 5 consultations (i.e. 10 consultations completed); and 

• A fee for each consultation of £18. 

A consultation fee is claimable irrespective of the outcome of the consultation.  

Where a pharmacy owner is commissioned to provide any related services, e.g. the Hypertension Case-Finding Service (incorporating BP clinic measurement), the pharmacy owner may not claim twice for the same activity. 

The product price for the OC supplied will be reimbursed in accordance with the Drug Tariff determination. Any purchase margin by pharmacies relating to contraceptives supplied as part of this service would be included in the calculation of allowed purchase margin that forms a part of agreed NHS pharmacy funding. 

Where a price concession has been granted for specific strengths of a product, this concession will apply to those specific strengths of products supplied as part of this service. Concessions will only apply to the month in which they are granted according to the usual Drug Tariff arrangements. 

Out of pocket expenses cannot be claimed as part of this service. 

Prescription charges are not relevant to the provision of this service and an appropriate patient declaration is not required. 

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Claiming 

Data from the NHS-assured IT system will be submitted to the MYS portal via an application programming interface and will be used by the NHSBSA to populate a payment claim within the MYS portal.

The pharmacy owner needs to review this payment claim and then submit it. Claims for payment for this service should be made monthly, via the MYS portal and no later than three months from the claim period for the chargeable activity provided. Claims which relate to work completed more than three months after the claim period in question, will not be paid.

Visit the Pharmacy Contraception Service Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page for FAQs on the service requirements.

In late 2023 and early 2024, Community Pharmacy England hosted a series of webinars to help pharmacy owners understand the changes to the PCS.

There were two webinars on the PCS:

Pharmacy Contraception Service: Initiating contraception webinar – this webinar was aimed at helping pharmacy teams who are already providing the service to expand their offering to include initiating contraception.

Download the slides used at the webinar

Pharmacy Contraception Service: getting going with the service – this webinar was aimed at helping pharmacy teams who have not yet started to provide the service to get ready to offer it to their patients.

Download the slides used at the webinar

Service pathway for initiation

Service pathway for ongoing supply

Guidance on measuring clinic blood pressures in line with NICE

Clinic blood pressure flow chart

Slide deck for use by LPCs at local events (PowerPoint)

Slide deck for use by LPCs at local events

Pharmacy Contraception Service implementation checklist

GP or sexual health clinic letter / email service notification template (Microsoft Word)

Briefing for general practice and sexual health clinics (or equivalent) teams

Service poster

Service poster – A3 size

Service poster (Bengali)

Service poster (Polish)

Service poster (Punjabi)

Service poster (Urdu)

Service digital general practice poster

Service digital poster 

NHSE Pharmacy Contraception Service A3 digital poster for university sites

Service digital poster (Bengali)

Service digital poster (Polish)

Service digital poster (Punjabi)

Service digital poster (Urdu)

NHS England Pharmacy Contraception Service business card leaflet (Format 1)

NHS England Pharmacy Contraception Service business card leaflet (Format 2)

NHS England Pharmacy Contraception Service business card leaflet (Format 3)

Oral contraception social media messages and text messages

Social media tile 1

Social media tile 2

Small flyers to use on prescription bags, etc (Microsoft Word)

Template patient leaflet to promote the service (Microsoft Word)

Briefing for pharmacy teams on the service

Pre-consultation questionnaire template (Microsoft Word)

Pre-consultation questionnaire template

Patient leaflet to support provision of readings (Microsoft Word)

Patient leaflet to support provision of readings