Pharmacy First service
Published on: 16th November 2023 | Updated on: 25th March 2024
This webpage provides information on the Pharmacy First service, which commenced on 31st January 2024.
The service was announced as part of an an agreement setting out how the £645 million investment pledged within the Delivery plan for recovering access to primary care will be used to support community pharmacy services.
The two previous elements of the Community Pharmacist Consultation Service (CPCS) were incorporated into the Pharmacy First service.
Latest update: Pharmacy First declaration data issue resolved
The NHS Business Services Authority has emailed pharmacy owners to say that the Pharmacy First IT system suppliers have resolved issues with the data they supplied to the Manage Your Service portal for the February 2024 NHS Pharmacy First activity.
NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care have also further extended the submission deadline for February 2024 Pharmacy First claims; pharmacy owners now have until 11.59pm on Monday 25th March 2024 to submit their declaration.
Read our news story for more information and the actions pharmacy owners should now take
Click on a heading below for more information
Community Pharmacy England made a proposal to the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England for a Pharmacy First service back in March 2022 and followed up on our bid with an extensive influencing campaign to build wider support for the proposal from stakeholders and influencers.
The Pharmacy First service, which commenced on 31st January 2024, is a crucial first step in recognising and properly funding the enormous amount of healthcare advice that community pharmacies provide to the public every day and in establishing and funding community pharmacy as the first port of call for healthcare advice.
What does the service involve?
The Advanced service involves pharmacists providing advice and NHS-funded treatment, where clinically appropriate, for seven common conditions:
- sinusitis
- sore throat
- acute otitis media
- infected insect bite
- impetigo
- shingles
- uncomplicated urinary tract infections in women.
Consultations for these seven clinical pathways can be provided to patients presenting to the pharmacy as well as those referred by NHS 111, general practices and others.
The service also incorporates the elements of the Community Pharmacist Consultation Service, i.e. minor illness consultations with a pharmacist and the supply of urgent medicines (and appliances), both following a referral from NHS 111, general practices (urgent supply referrals are not allowed from general practices) and other authorised healthcare providers (i.e. patients are not able to present to the pharmacy without a referral).
In the clinical pathway consultations with a pharmacist, people with symptoms suggestive of the seven conditions will be provided with advice and will be supplied, where clinically necessary, with a prescription-only treatment under a Patient Group Direction (PGD) or in one pathway, an over-the-counter medicine (supplied under a clinical protocol), all at NHS expense.
In the future, we hope that independent prescribers will be able to use their skills to complete episodes of care within the service, without the need for a PGD. However, for the time being, all pharmacists providing the service must use the PGDs and clinical protocol.
The service requirements are included in the service specification and the associated clinical pathways.
Download the service specification and clinical pathways
Videos talking through each of the seven clinical pathways
Patient Group Directions
The 23 patient group directions (PGD) and one protocol for the service authorise supply of medicines at NHS expense.
Download the final PGDs and protocol
Master PGD and Protocol authorisation sheet (Microsoft Word)
Pharmacists working under the PGDs and protocol and an authorising manager need to sign them before their use. This master authorisation sheet can be used to sign/authorise all 23 PGDs and the protocol in one document.
Drug Tariff
The Drug Tariff determination sets out the detail of the funding for the service (see also the Funding and claiming payment section below) and the Secretary of State Directions provide the legal basis for the provision of the service:
Drug Tariff determination and Directions for the Pharmacy First service
Pharmacy owner implementation checklist: Pharmacy First service
This checklist details the actions pharmacy owners need to undertake to prepare to provide the Pharmacy First service.
Pharmacist implementation checklist: Pharmacy First service
This checklist provides suggested actions that pharmacists need to undertake to prepare to provide the Pharmacy First service.
Webinars
In late 2023 and early 2024, Community Pharmacy England hosted a series of webinars to help pharmacy owners and their teams to prepare for the new Pharmacy First service, and changes to the PCS and Hypertension Case-Finding Service.
There were two webinars on the Pharmacy First service:
Pharmacy First: Getting to know the service – this webinar provided the initial launch information for the Pharmacy First service, outlining the core
Download the slides from the webinar
Pharmacy First: Getting ready for launch – this webinar focused on how to prepare for the service’s launch, building on the content of the earlier webinar and providing additional practical information.
Download the slides from the webinar
Provision of the service by Distance Selling Pharmacies
Distance Selling Pharmacies (DSPs) can provide the service.
Minor illness consultations with a pharmacist and the supply of urgent medicines (and appliances), both following referrals, can be provided by DSPs with patients at their premises or alternatively, they can be provided by remote consultation (either audio or video).
DSPs can provide six of the seven Pharmacy First clinical pathways remotely via video consultations, but may not provide clinical pathways consultations to patients at their premises. This is due to the initial parts of a consultation being part of the support for self-care Essential service and the regulatory restrictions regarding the provision of Essential services at the pharmacy premises.
The acute otitis media (AOM) clinical pathway requires the use of an otoscope, so that pathway cannot not be provided by DSPs.
See below for further information on the provision of remote consultations.
Consultation room
Pharmacies must have a consultation room that will be used for the provision of the service which meets the requirements of the terms of service.
There must be IT equipment accessible within the consultation room to allow contemporaneous records of the consultations provided to be made within the NHS-assured Pharmacy First IT system (see below for further information on IT systems).
Providing the service via remote consultations
In most circumstances, the service requirements do allow remote consultations to be provided by a pharmacist who is at the pharmacy premises, but there are exceptions and specific requirements to be aware of, which are set out in the table below.
Further guidance on remote consultations
The pharmacist will also need to consider whether a remote consultation is clinically appropriate and safe to undertake.
Minor illness consultations (referrals) and urgent medicines supply consultations (referrals) can be undertaken via telephone/audio or video consultation by a pharmacist who is at the pharmacy.
Clinical pathways consultations can be conducted via good quality video consultation by a pharmacist who is at the pharmacy. Remote clinical pathways consultations can only be provided via a good quality video consultation – they cannot be provided by a telephone/audio consultation.
The acute otitis media (AOM) clinical pathway requires the use of an otoscope, so that pathway cannot not be provided via a remote consultation.
Equipment
Where ear examinations are performed within the pharmacy, the pharmacist must use an otoscope. Consequently, all pharmacies providing the service (bar DSPs) must have an otoscope.
Guidance on selecting a suitable otoscope can be found in Annex C of the service specification.
In NHS England’s letter issued to pharmacy owners on 25th January 2024, they advised that pharmacies may start to provide the service without being able to provide the otitis media clinical pathway, if they have evidence that they have ordered an otoscope and are awaiting delivery. From 1st April 2024, an otoscope must be available, and all clinical pathways must be provided in bricks and mortar pharmacies registered to provide the service
While the otoscope is the only equipment specified by the service specification, pharmacy owners may want to consider having a thermometer which can be used to measure patients’ temperatures during consultation. Tongue depressors and a small torch may also help with examination of the throat, within the sore throat pathway.
Standard Operating Procedure and Business Continuity Plan
Pharmacy owners must have a Standard Operating Procedure (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 escalation of any clinical and non-clinical issues identified during the provision of the service. To support this, the pharmacy must have available, signposting details for other local services, contact details for local out of hours and urgent care providers and contact details for the local integrated care board.
Various pharmacy support organisations provide template SOPs which their members can personalise for use in their pharmacy. We have also produced a key contact details template for the Pharmacy First service.
Key contact details for the service (Word)
Key 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 or it can be downloaded by visiting your device’s appropriate app store and searching for ‘NHS Safeguarding’.
Below is a summary template which can be used to record details on local GP practices referring into the Pharmacy First service, as well as details on other local pharmacies providing the service.
GP referrals to Pharmacy First service – summary details for local PCN (Word)
GP referrals to Pharmacy First service – summary details for local PCN (PDF)
Pharmacy owners must also ensure the service is included in their business continuity plan.
Competency and training requirements
The pharmacy owner must ensure that pharmacists providing the service are competent to do so, including the use of an otoscope (except for DSPs) and be familiar with the clinical pathways, clinical protocol and PGDs. This may involve completion of training.
The pharmacy owner must keep documentary evidence that pharmacy staff involved in the provision of the service are competent and remain up to date with regards to the specific skills and knowledge that are appropriate to their role, and to the aspects of the service they are delivering.
The Centre for Pharmacy Postgraduate Education (CPPE) has a webpage which details training resources which may help pharmacists preparing to provide the service.
CPPE have also developed, with NHS England, a Pharmacy First self-assessment framework, which pharmacists can use to assess their knowledge in relation to the service and to identify any gaps in their knowledge, which need to be filled.
CPPE Pharmacy First page (including the Pharmacy First self-assessment framework)
Other training options we have been made aware of:
Agilio iLearn Pharmacy First training
The prior learning, knowledge and experience of each pharmacist will vary and consequently each individual will need to reflect on their own learning needs and identify any gaps in their knowledge which they need to fill.
Selecting an IT system
As with the previous Community Pharmacist Consultation Service, an NHS-assured Pharmacy First IT system, which meets the minimum digital requirements of the service (as specified within the Community Pharmacy Clinical Services Standard and including an application programming interface (API) to facilitate transfer of data into the NHSBSA MYS portal) must be used by pharmacy owners.
When choosing an IT supplier, pharmacy owners may want to refer to the NHS CPCS IT Buyers Guide.
These IT systems allow pharmacy staff to make a clinical record for the service and the data in the record will then be used by the IT system to populate a claim for payment within the NHSBSA’s MYS portal.
The transfer of data via the API will happen throughout the month, as data is entered into the IT systems. The service provisions will then be available to view in MYS from the 1st of the following month. For example, service provisions in December will be available to view in MYS on 1st January. Pharmacy owners will then need to log into the MYS portal to check that the data matches the details in their IT system, and they will then need to submit their claim for payment.
The full dataset for the Pharmacy First service can be found in Annex B of the service specification.
The NHS-approved clinical IT system will also send messages containing a summary of the consultation to the patient’s general practice.
The following four IT suppliers worked with NHS England to develop their systems to include functionality to support the service, but over time, we expect other suppliers will add the service to their systems:
| System and supplier |
| HxConsult (Positive Solutions) |
| Pharmacy Manager (Cegedim) |
| PharmOutcomes (Pinnacle Health) |
| Sonar health (Sonar informatics) |
Read more about the IT requirements for all CPCF clinical services
Sign up to provide the service
Pharmacy owners must notify NHS England that they intend to provide the service by completion of an electronic registration through the NHS Business Services Authority’s (NHSBSA) Manage Your Service (MYS) portal.
Registrations opened on MYS on 1st December 2023; further information is included in the Funding and claiming payment section below.
The pharmacy owner must ensure that the service is available throughout the pharmacy’s full opening hours (i.e. core and supplementary).
Verbal consent to receive the service must be sought from the patient and recorded in the pharmacy’s clinical record for the service
The patient must also be advised of the following information sharing that will take place:
The sharing of information about the service with NHS England as part of the service monitoring and evaluation.
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).
Annex B of the service specification includes a summary of how the data will be used by the organisations.
Resources to use during consultations
Pharmacy First clinical pathways – online information sources for patients
When pharmacists are providing a consultation for one of the seven Pharmacy First clinical pathways, there are several leaflets/websites for patients to be pointed to which are listed in the PGDs and treatment protocol.
This resource lists all the patient-facing leaflets/website links listed in the PGDs and treatment protocol, excluding the marketing authorisation holder’s patient information leaflets (hard copies will be available within the medicine’s packaging, with copies also being available from medicines.org.uk/emc).
Hyperlinks to the leaflets/websites are listed, alongside QR codes for each leaflet/website so patients can scan this to access the leaflet/website link on their mobile phones.
Accessing the patient’s record
With the patient’s consent, their GP record (e.g. via GP Connect Access Record), national care record, or an alternative clinical record for the patient, must be checked by the pharmacist unless there is good reason not to do so.
NHS England is working with Pharmacy First IT system suppliers to add GP Connect Access Record functionality to their systems. In the meantime, pharmacists providing the Pharmacy First service can continue to access elements of the patient’s GP record via the National Care Records Service.
Use of GP Connect products requires the pharmacy owner to agree to the terms of the National Data Sharing Arrangement. By accessing GP Connect products via their NHS-assured Pharmacy First IT system, the pharmacy owner will be assumed to have read, understood, and accepted the
terms of the National Data Sharing Arrangement.
Communicating with GP practices following a consultation
The pharmacy must send a notification of the provision of the service to the patient’s general practice on the day of provision or on the following working day.
Where possible, this should be sent as a structured message in real-time via the Pharmacy First IT system. In the absence of an automated digital solution or if there is a temporary problem with the system, this should be sent via NHSmail or hard copy.
Where an action is required by the general practice team (such as booking the patient in for a follow up or appointment) an action message or alternative form of an Urgent Action communication (rather than the standard post event message) must be sent to the practice.
From early 2024 (date to be confirmed), community pharmacy IT systems will start to automatically send details of a community pharmacy consultation to the GP clinical IT system via a structured message, ready for a staff member at the practice to check and update the patient’s record.
Once this functionality (GP Connect Update Record) is enabled, all Pharmacy First post-event messages sent by pharmacy IT systems will appear in the general practice IT system’s generic workflow. The structured message will be provisionally held against the patient record and will be visible by people reviewing the record. A member of the practice team will need to review and accept the message. The structured message will then be ingested into the patient record without the need for transcribing or coding.
Messages will be available to anyone accessing the general practice record including patients themselves (e.g. by logging into their account on the NHS website or NHS App).
The structured message which is incorporated into the patient record will include structured data on the consultation and free text notes added by the pharmacist.
Pharmacists wanting to update their knowledge of best practice record keeping can access the CPPE Documenting in patient clinical records e-learning programme.
Ahead of this development, the Pharmacy First IT systems will send a post-event message to the patient’s GP practice following a Pharmacy First consultation via NHSmail, with a summary of the consultation attached as a PDF. This is the approach which was previously used for the Community Pharmacist Consultation Service. Once the new GP Connect Update Record functionality is implemented, this will remove the need for practice staff to transcribe information from emails into the patient’s record.
GP clinical IT system suppliers will enable this functionality by default and further supplier specific information for general practices is available via the following links:
Clinical records
Details and the outcome of each consultation must be recorded in the pharmacy’s Pharmacy First IT system.
Pharmacy contractors must adhere to defined standards of record keeping, ensuring the consultation record is made on the same day that it occurs unless exceptional circumstances apply.
Pharmacists wanting to update their knowledge of best practice record keeping can access the CPPE Documenting in patient clinical records e-learning programme.
Making contemporaneous records at the time of the consultation is the expectation of pharmacists providing the service. This not only meets expected professional standards, but it also supports timely provision of data to the patient’s general practice (see details of how the Pharmacy First IT system sends data to the patient’s GP practice above), which will also become available to view by other pharmacists providing a consultation to the patient, should they need to seek further support in due course.
Where the Pharmacy First IT system is unavailable due to exceptional circumstances beyond the control of the pharmacy contractor, then the consultation record must be added to the system as soon as possible after it becomes available again.
If the problem persists for a period greater than 3 working days then the contractor must notify the local commissioner of the issue.
IT suppliers will make paper-based consultation record templates for pharmacists to use in business continuity scenarios, where the IT system is temporarily unavailable, e.g. due to a system outage or loss of internet connectivity.
Visibility of consultation records to patients
When GP Connect Update Record functionality is implemented, subject to the general practice making the record visible in online services, the Pharmacy First consultation record will be visible to the patient if they view their general practice record in online services such as the NHS app, NHS website account or GP patient apps.
Supplying medicines
If a medicine is to be supplied following an urgent medicines supply consultation or a clinical pathways consultation, the service specification requires it to be made with reasonable promptness taking into account the clinical need of the individual.
For example, supply of antivirals for the treatment of shingles for eligible patients should be made within the defined timeframes of rash onset as outlined in the clinical pathway.
The service specification notes that Distance Selling Pharmacies (DSPs) should make necessary arrangements for a prompt delivery of the item, at no cost to the patient.
If the patient needs to be referred to another pharmacy to provide the clinical pathways consultation (e.g. due to no stock of the required medicine being available at the pharmacy or the patient of a DSP needing to receive the medicine more rapidly than the pharmacy can have it delivered), no payment will be due to the referring pharmacy.
The service specification also states that to help protect NHS resources, wherever practicable, pharmacy contractors should supply the best value product to meet the clinical need of the patient.
Prescription charges
The normal prescription charge rules apply to medicines or appliances supplied under the service, whether via the urgent medicines supply part of the service or the seven clinical pathways.
The Pharmacy First IT system will print off a FP10DT EPS dispensing token and the patient should complete the relevant parts of the reverse of the form to claim exemption from the prescription charge or to indicate they have paid the NHS prescription charge.
The printed FP10DT EPS dispensing token must include the following information:
- Full name, address and date of birth of the patient
- Patient’s NHS number (where they have one)
- Name, strength, and form of medicines requested (using DM+D name or shortened DM+D name)
- The quantity supplied
- Date of supply
- Name and address of patient’s GP (for those who are registered with one)
- Referral ID number (if the patient was referred)
Where medicines or appliances are supplied as part of an Urgent Medicines Supply consultation, the completed dispensing tokens should be sent to the NHSBSA as part of the month-end submission, clearly separated within the batch and marked ‘PF UMS’.
Similarly, where medicines are supplied as part of a Clinical Pathway consultation, the completed dispensing tokens should be sent to the NHSBSA as part of the month-end submission, clearly separated within the batch and marked ‘PF CP’.
Temporary pharmacy closures
In the event of a temporary closure, pharmacy owners must ensure the elements of their business continuity plan related to the service are activated and the service is temporarily withdrawn.
They must inform the NHS 111 provider and local IUC CAS of the temporary withdrawal by calling the NHS Directory of Services Provider and Commissioner Helpline (0300 0200 363) as soon as possible to stop referrals being made to the pharmacy.
GP practices and UEC settings within the pharmacy’s primary care network should also be contacted to prevent them making further direct referrals.
The service commissioner (integrated care board) must also be informed by the pharmacy owner.
Withdrawal from the Pharmacy First service
If having registered to provide the Pharmacy First service, a 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 30 days’ notice prior to the cessation of the service. The pharmacy owner may be asked for their reason for withdrawal from the service.
We have developed a range of materials which pharmacy owners can use to promote the service to patients.
Our shared folder (link below) allows you to easily download the latest versions of some or all of the following resources:
- Posters for display within pharmacies and for more general use (e.g. in general practice waiting rooms);
- Social media tiles and suggested social media posts about Pharmacy First;
- Videos and digital screen graphics;
- Small flyers about Pharmacy First; and
- Template local press release for Pharmacy First launch.
Download here: Pharmacy First promotional resources
Following the launch of NHS England’s ‘Think Pharmacy first’ campaign on 19th February 2024, their campaign materials are also now available for pharmacy teams to use.
Funding for the clinical pathways consultations within the new service comes from the new investment, which is outside of the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF) funding (‘the global sum’).
Initial fixed payment
Funding, caps and activity thresholds for the service were the subject of much negotiation and we were pleased to have secured an initial fixed payment of £2,000 per pharmacy to be made available ahead of the launch of the service.
Pharmacy owners could sign up to provide the service and claim the initial fixed payment by making a declaration on the NHSBSA’s Manage Your Service (MYS) portal by 23:59 on 30th January 2024. The initial fixed payment will be reclaimed if pharmacy owners do not provide five clinical pathways consultations by the end of March 2024 (minor illness and urgent medicines supply consultations do not count towards this minimum consultation requirement).
Pharmacy owners who made the declaration on MYS before 23:59 on 31st December 2023 received the £2000 payment on 1st February 2024, with those that subsequently make a declaration before 23:59 on 30th January 2024 receiving the payment on 1st March 2024.
Consultation fee
Pharmacies will be paid £15 per completed consultation.
For supply of urgent medicines (and appliances), a referral is completed when either:
- the pharmacist has a consultation with the patient (remotely or face-to-face) and confirms no supply is required, or
- the patient is given advice, the patient purchases the required product, or an emergency supply is made, or
- the patient is referred on to another healthcare provider, or
- an EPS prescription is downloaded and dispensed, or
- an item is not available, and the patient is referred to a second pharmacy.
For minor illness consultations, a referral is completed when either:
- the pharmacist has a consultation with the patient (remotely or face-to-face) and the patient is given self-care advice, or
- the patient receives self-care advice and purchases an OTC item, or
- the patient is referred to a minor ailments scheme locally (where one exists), or
- the patient is referred to an appropriate prescriber, or
- the pharmacist makes the decision that the presenting condition is not minor in nature and the patient is referred onwards to higher acuity services, or
- the patient is contacted and the patient refuses to undergo a full consultation but receives safety-netting advice.
No consultation fee can be claimed where the pharmacist cannot make any contact with a referred patient.
For patients with symptoms associated with the seven clinical pathways, a consultation is completed when a clinical pathway outcome is reached.
- For a referred patient, a consultation fee may always be claimed.
- For patients identified by the pharmacy, a fee is payable only when a gateway point in one of the clinical pathways is crossed and a clinical pathway outcome is reached.
If the patient needs to be referred to another pharmacy to provide the clinical pathways consultation (e.g. due to no stock of the required medicine being available at the pharmacy or the patient of a DSP needing to receive the medicine more rapidly than the pharmacy can have it delivered), no payment will be due to the referring pharmacy.
Monthly fixed payment
In addition to the £15 consultation fee, a monthly fixed payment of £1,000 will be paid to pharmacy owners who meet a minimum activity threshold of clinical pathways consultations (the threshold will increase over time as set out below).
Any clinical pathways consultations provided on the 31st January 2024 should be claimed for as part of the February 2024 payment claim and they will count towards the February 2024 minimum number of clinical pathways consultations.
| Month | Minimum number of clinical pathways consultations |
| February 2024 | 1 |
| March 2024 | 5 |
| April 2024 | 5 |
| May 2024 | 10 |
| June 2024 | 10 |
| July 2024 | 10 |
| August 2024 | 20 |
| September 2024 | 20 |
| October 2024 onwards | 30 |
Only clinical pathway consultations that cross the gateway point and reach an outcome set out in the pathway (without onward referral to another pharmacy), will count towards meeting the monthly minimum number of consultations for the block payment.
Cost control mechanism for Pharmacy First (clinical pathways consultations)
The additional funding made available for the clinical pathways consultation is sufficient for up to 12 million consultations per year.
From April 2024, an initial cap of 3,000 consultations per month per pharmacy will be put in place.
From 1st October 2024, new caps will be introduced based on actual provision of clinical pathways consultations, designed to deliver 3 million consultations per quarter with any unused activity rolling forward to subsequent quarters of that financial year. The mechanism to set these caps will be agreed jointly by Community Pharmacy England, DHSC and NHS England and will be reviewed once we have data from actual service delivery.
Claiming payments
Data from the Pharmacy First 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.
** February submission deadline extended after technical issue **
NHS England and the DHSC have further extended the submission deadline for February 2024 Pharmacy First claims; pharmacy owners now have until 11.59pm on Monday 25th March 2024 to submit their declaration.
This is an extended deadline for February only (this includes any consultations completed on 31st January 2024) and it follows an issue with Pharmacy First claims appearing incorrectly in the NHSBSA Manage Your Service (MYS) portal.
NHSBSA has advised that the issue is now resolved; however, as always pharmacy owners should check their submission carefully before submitting. If there appears to still be an issue, pharmacy owners should contact their Pharmacy First IT system supplier helpdesk to escalate the matter. They should also not confirm their claims in MYS until the issue has been resolved.
If pharmacy owners have submitted their claim with incorrect information, they should email the MYS team (mys@nhsbsa.nhs.uk) for further guidance.
Guidance for pharmacy owners
Pharmacy owner implementation checklist: Pharmacy First service
This checklist details the actions pharmacy owners need to undertake to prepare to provide the Pharmacy First service.
The following briefings provide summary information about what the overall agreement on the Delivery plan for recovering access to primary care negotiations means in practice.
Briefing 029/23: Recovery Plan agreement – Summary and FAQs for pharmacy owners and LPCs
Key contact details for the service (Microsoft Word)
Key contact details for the service (PDF)
Pharmacy owners must have available, signposting details for other local services, contact details for local out of hours and urgent care providers and contact details for the local integrated care board. The above resource can be used to list all of the key contacts for the service.
While pharmacy owners should already be aware of 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 or it can be downloaded by visiting your device’s appropriate app store and searching for ‘NHS Safeguarding’.
Below is a summary template which can be used to record details on local GP practices referring into the Pharmacy First service, as well as details on other local pharmacies providing the service.
GP referrals to Pharmacy First service – summary details for local PCN (Word)
GP referrals to Pharmacy First service – summary details for local PCN (PDF)
Guidance for pharmacists
Pharmacist implementation checklist: Pharmacy First service
This checklist provides suggested actions that pharmacists need to undertake to prepare to provide the Pharmacy First service.
Resources to use during consultations
Pharmacy First clinical pathways – online information sources for patients
When pharmacists are providing a consultation for one of the seven Pharmacy First clinical pathways, there are several leaflets/websites for patients to be pointed to which are listed in the PGDs and treatment protocol.
This resource lists all the patient-facing leaflets/website links listed in the PGDs and treatment protocol, excluding the marketing authorisation holder’s patient information leaflets (hard copies will be available within the medicine’s packaging, with copies also being available from medicines.org.uk/emc).
Hyperlinks to the leaflets/websites are listed, alongside QR codes for each leaflet/website so patients can scan this to access the leaflet/website link on their mobile phones.
Information for pharmacy teams
Briefing 040/23: Initial briefing for pharmacy teams – the Pharmacy First service
This Briefing provides initial information for pharmacy teams on the Pharmacy First service.
Information for Local Medical Committees and general practices
Pharmacy owner letter/email template to GP practices to introduce the service (Microsoft Word)
Pharmacy First template PowerPoint presentation for LPCs (aimed at pharmacy owners and teams)
Pharmacy First template PowerPoint presentation for LPCs (aimed at other external audiences)
Promotion of the service
Pharmacy First promotional resources
NHS England ‘Think Pharmacy first’ campaign materials
Pharmacy First Clinical pathways – medicines included in the PGDs and medicines protocol
Pharmacy First – medicines list for clinical pathway consultations
NHS England video clips
David Webb, Chief Pharmaceutical Officer, NHS England talks about the Pharmacy First service
Pallavi Dawda, Head of Delivery – Clinical Strategy, Community Pharmacy, NHS England talks about the development of the Pharmacy First service clinical pathways and PGDs
