Mandatory weight management campaign in January

NHS England and PSNC have agreed that contractors will only have to participate in one mandatory national health campaign for 2022/23 (pharmacies can be required to participate in up to six health campaigns at the request of NHS England per year). This campaign will be on weight management and will start on Tuesday 3rd January and run until Sunday 29th January 2023.

Contractors can order pharmacy specific posters, wallet cards (‘info’ cards with a QR code signposting people to the Better Health website and free tips and tools to lose weight) and a dispenser for these cards on the Campaign Resource Centre website. A guidance leaflet to support community pharmacy teams’ conversations with patients is also available.

Alternatively, pharmacy teams can choose to use digital resources as part of the campaign, which are available to download on the Campaign Resource Centre website. These include digital screens for pharmacies, web banners and email signatures.

Pharmacy Quality Scheme requirement

As part of the Healthy living support domain of the 2022/23 Pharmacy Quality Scheme, pharmacy teams are required to proactively discuss weight management with a minimum of 25 patients and refer at least four patients (who meets the criteria for referral) to either a Local Authority funded tier 2 weight management service or the NHS Digital Weight Management Programme. Pharmacy teams could use the campaign materials as conversation starters to assist them with meeting these requirements.

PSNC Briefing 037/22: CPCF services, PQS and Terms of Service – Important dates and checklist has been updated to include the above campaign dates.