PQS: Clinical audit can be started from today

The Pharmacy Quality Scheme (PQS) Antimicrobial stewardship – Pharmacy First consultations – clinical audit can be started from today (1st September 2025).

Completion of the audit, as well as sharing anonymised data with NHS England and incorporating any learnings from the audit into future practice by the end of 31st March 2026, is a quality criterion in the Patient safety domain of the 2025/26 Scheme.

The audit must be started between 1st September 2025 and 3rd February 2026 to ensure there is an eight-week consecutive period for the data collection. The audit should be completed no later than 31st March 2026.

The audit must be carried out with a minimum of 10 patients over four weeks, or over an eight-week period if 10 patients are not achieved. Pharmacy owners should make a record of the start and end date of the audit as they will be required to enter this information into the Manage Your Service (MYS) portal when they make their declaration.

The data collection tool, which should be used to share anonymised audit data with NHS England, is also due to become available today on the MYS portal.

View the clinical audit paperwork on the NHS England website