Clinical audit
Published on: 22nd September 2014 | Updated on: 16th April 2025
The Terms of Service require pharmacy owners to undertake a clinical audit each year, the topic of which they choose. In addition to this, they must also complete an audit on a topic that has been determined by NHS England.
Latest update
On 31st March 2025, the details of the contractual settlement for 2025/26 were announced, which included reference to clinical audit requirements.
As part of those negotiations, it was agreed that the clinical audit requirement (completion of a nationally chosen audit and a pharmacy owner-selected audit) would not apply in 2025/26.
Previous nationally determined audits
Since the introduction of the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework in 2005, community pharmacies have been required to carry out an annual audit where the topic of the audit was determined locally by the Primary Care Trust or latterly by the local NHS England team. It was agreed in 2014/15 that rather than audit topics being chosen by local NHS England teams, one nationally agreed audit would be undertaken by all pharmacies.
| Financial year | Audit topic |
| 2024/25 | NHS England did not agreed a national audit topic with Community Pharmacy England for 2024/25 and so this requirement did not apply to pharmacy owners in 2024/25. |
| 2023/24 | Since the reduced Pharmacy Quality Scheme (PQS) 2023/24 contained a clinical audit, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and NHS England agreed to Community Pharmacy England’s request to remove the clinical governance requirement for pharmacy owners to undertake a pharmacy owner-chosen and an NHS England determined clinical audit in 2023/24. |
| 2022/23 | National clinical audit on valproate |
| 2021/22 | Recognising the challenges that were experienced by pharmacies and the contribution of the pharmacy workforce during the pandemic and to the COVID-19 vaccination programme, Community Pharmacy England reached agreement with NHS England and DHSC that the requirement for pharmacy teams to complete an NHS England national audit during 2019/20 to 2021/22 would be waived. |
| 2020/21 | |
| 2019/20 | |
| 2018/19 | National clinical audit on flu vaccination for people with diabetes |
| 2014/15 | National clinical audit on emergency supply |
Pharmacy chosen audit
The annual clinical audit, the topic of which is chosen by the pharmacy, can focus on an appropriate topic of relevance to the practice of the individual pharmacy team. Guidance on undertaking clinical audits can be found via the link below, alongside template audits developed for use by pharmacy teams.
It is not a requirement in the terms of service to send your pharmacy chosen clinical audit results to your ICB. However, pharmacy owners should be prepared to demonstrate they have carried out a clinical audit at the time of any contract monitoring visit carried out by the ICB.
Hydration messages to prevent acute kidney injury clinical audit (on PharmOutcomes)
RPS audit hub, including templates
For more information on this topic please email services.team@cpe.org.uk
