Reminder – New Medicine Service (NMS) providing the service offsite
Pharmacy owners are reminded that they are not permitted to subcontract the New Medicine Service (NMS) to third-party, off-site providers. If they do, contrary to the Directions last year, they run the risk of recovery of the payment for these services by ICBs (through NHS England’s Post-Payment Verification processes) and being found in breach of their Terms of Service with the NHS.
On 26th October 2025, the Secretary of State Directions came into effect, which clarified that NMS may not be provided via a remote consultation with the patient by a pharmacist working off the pharmacy premises who is not employed by the pharmacy owner.
If the service is provided off-site, off the pharmacy premises, the pharmacist providing the service:
- must be employed directly by the pharmacy, or a company in the same group* as the pharmacy
- must have access to the records of the patient that are held by or are accessible by the pharmacy, which are required to provide the service safely and effectively
*A group is defined as a parent undertaking and its subsidiary undertakings as defined in the Companies Act 2006
Locums can provide NMS when working at the pharmacy premises (where the pharmacy has signed up to deliver the service), but may not provide the service when working offsite (not at the pharmacy premises).
Payments for the service may be recovered as part of Provider Assurance activities where subcontracting arrangements are used to provide the service.
More information can be found on our website under NMS Subcontracting webpage, NMS webpage and the NMS FAQ webpage.
