PQS : Palliative care questionnaire
Pharmacy owners are now able to complete the Palliative and End of Life Care (PEoLC) questionnaire, which is a gateway requirement for the 2026/27 Pharmacy Quality Scheme (PQS).
The questionnaire can be accessed via the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) MYS portal and must be submitted by 11.59pm on 31st December 2026.
Once the questionnaire has been completed and the survey data submitted, pharmacy owners will receive a confirmation email as evidence that their submission has been successful. This email must be provided if a pharmacy owner needs to demonstrate that they have successfully submitted their questionnaire, therefore it is important to retain this email.
Since this is one of three gateway requirements, failure to complete and submit the questionnaire by 11.59pm on 31st December 2026, will mean that pharmacy owners will not be eligible for a PQS payment, even if they have completed all the work for the two PQS domains.
Other gateway requirements
There are three gateway requirements which must be met to qualify for the 2026/27 PQS. Further details on the other two requirements can be found below.
Pharmacy palliative care medication stockholder
As soon as possible after 2nd June 2026 and by the end of 31st March 2027, the pharmacy owner must have updated NHS Profile Manager to show they are a ‘Pharmacy palliative care medication stockholder’ if they routinely hold the 16 palliative and end of life critical medicines listed in the Drug Tariff and can support local access to parenteral haloperidol.
If pharmacy owners are a stockholder, they are encouraged to update or verify that they information in NHS Profile Manager is correct as soon as possible.
PEoLC action plan
By the end of 31st March 2027, pharmacy owners must have an action plan in place to use when they do not have the required stock of the 16 palliative and end of life critical medicines and/or parenteral haloperidol available for a patient. This must include collated information from pharmacies in their area to be able to aid a patient, relative/carer in obtaining medication as swiftly as possible by redirecting them to the nearest open community pharmacy that stocks the 16 palliative and end of life critical medicines and/or parenteral haloperidol.
Read more about meeting the gateway criterion on our PQS webpage
