New Medicines Service (NMS) subcontracting
Published on: 1st April 2026 | Updated on: 1st April 2026
In March 2025, funding and other arrangements for community pharmacies for 2024/25 and 2025/26 were finalised. The settlement between Community Pharmacy England, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), and NHS England provided several regulatory changes, one of which was a change to the ability to subcontract the New Medicines Service (NMS) to third-party providers.
Pharmacy owners are not permitted to subcontract the New Medicine Service (NMS) to third-party, off-site providers. If they do, contrary to the Directions introduced in October 2025, 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.
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
Q. What changes happened with the subcontracting of NMS?
Changes were made to Service Secretary of State Directions to clarify 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. This is detailed in the CPCF settlement: 2024/2025 and 2025/2026
Q. Why was subcontracting of NMS an issue?
The pharmacy owner and the pharmacy premises, from which services are usually provided, are approved and listed, subject to assurance measures, and have ongoing commitments that are part of their NHS Terms of Service.
Generally, if a service is subcontracted by the original contract holder, this results in provision of the service by a different legal entity, often at different premises and, if permitted in the original contract, is usually subject to regulatory controls.
There is no provision for the subcontracting of the NMS service and, accordingly, no controls are in place for such subcontracting. Any such controls would be likely to include provisions for:
- The transfer of patient information to another legal entity (to the separate legal entity with which the pharmacy is subcontracting); and
- The retention of records by the pharmacy owner (the contractor) and ensure they are available at the pharmacy premises.
Where the provision of a service is by a different legal entity at different premises, this bypasses the listed and commissioned pharmacy owner and questions whether the subcontracting party should be commissioned directly.
Q. How is NHS community pharmacy provision controlled and regulated?
The control and regulation of NHS community pharmacies includes:
- An application procedure with the provision of fitness information for the owner pharmacist or pharmacist directors of the relevant company and superintendent pharmacist.
- The pharmacy owner and the pharmacy premises are listed on the local pharmaceutical list (or the national consolidated pharmaceutical list).
- The pharmacy must comply with the ongoing Terms of Service and clinical requirements, and the listed pharmacy premises can be inspected.
- There is a system of performance measures which include dispute resolution, remedial and breach notices, withholding of remuneration, post-payment verification, and, in rare cases, removal from the list.
Q. Can pharmacies continue to provide NMS remotely offsite?
Yes, there is no intention to change this.
A pharmacist, employed directly by the pharmacy or company in the same group, providing NMS by telephone or video consultation can do so from the pharmacy premises or from another location, e.g. a pharmacist employed by the pharmacy who is working from home.
In all circumstances where, with the patient’s prior consent, telephone or video consultations are used to provide parts of the NMS, the pharmacist must undertake the consultation in an environment where the conversation cannot be overheard by others (except by someone whom the patient wants to hear the conversation, for example a carer).
Pharmacy owners can also provide NMS in patients’ homes, but they must ensure appropriate safeguarding arrangements are in place, including ensuring pharmacists have a valid DBS certificate, and there are appropriate procedures and indemnity arrangements in place.
(Note: there are new/additional requirements for pharmacists to have a valid DBS certificate within the 2025/26 PQS)
Q. If NMS can be provided off-site, surely it be provided by a different legal entity?
No, the discretion for off-site provision of NMS was introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic to allow pharmacist staff who were required or needed to stay at home, for example, because they were shielding, to provide NMS from home. There was no provision or discretion given for the service to be subcontracted to a separate legal entity.
Q. May locums continue to provide NMS when working at the pharmacy premises?
Yes. Locums will be able to continue to provide NMS when working at the pharmacy premises (where the pharmacy has signed up to deliver the service).
Q. Can locums continue to provide NMS when working offsite (not at the pharmacy premises)?
No. Locums cannot provide the service when working offsite (not at the pharmacy premises).
For more information on this topic please email regulations.team@cpe.org.uk
